Tomb Raider and Soul Reaver: Path's Reconverge
by DragonSeer
Summary: Lara Croft's been at home four years and what better way to get back into the game than looking for a priceless artifact-the Soul Reaver? prt 2 to TR-SR: World's Collide ...The epilogue now. Hope you all enjoyed the story. :-) psst, I have more plans
1. Prologue: Angel of Death Returns

It is HIGHLY recommended that you read the first story Tomb Raider and Soul Reaver: World's Collide before you start on this one. It'll make a lot more sense that way.

Four years, nine months later . . .

Run. Double handed flip. Flip, flip, flip. Mid-air summersault. Land. Lara Croft, professional Tomb Raider, landed from a series of flips slightly off-balance and was greeted with a slight twinge of pain from the scar on her right side under her ribs. She gritted her teeth, shoved the pain away, and continued her sprint, ending it in a flip taking her onto one of her training blocks. She inspected the scar, prodding gently. The wound from the battle on Nosgoth had healed as promised, but it still woke and pained her every so often. Lara sat on the edge of the block and sighed, letting her mind drift back to Nosgoth, to the Pillars, Ariel, Kain . . .

And Raziel. She bit her lip as she stood. Unlike her physical wound, that emotional one had never fully healed. He still somehow found his way into her dreams, and she still occasionally woke up remembering the way he held her and wishing for him to hold her again . . .

'Idiot!' she berated herself as she almost missed a step on the thin balance rail. She jumped from the end to another block. 'He was a Reaver of Souls. It was a fling. It's about bloody time to get over it! I'll bet he isn't sparing a thought for me. It's over, Lara.'

She jumped down, raced down a sprinting lane, and rolled at the end to slow her momentum. In sheer aggressiveness to get him off her mind, she climbed fervently and swung across the room on the monkey bars on the ceiling. When suspended, she had a curious notion to see what it would be like to fall toward her own floor, but quickly shook it off. She had had enough falling for a while.

Well, not really. The one and only Tomb Raider had been at home for about four and a half years now, leaving the house only rarely. She knew it really didn't help her missing Raziel since she had nothing else to do, but what other choice did she have? But it had been long enough, now. Lara was ready to go back into the field. She could not stand to stay cooped up in this mansion any longer. She climbed down the ladder and back flipped onto another block.

"Lara?" a voice inquired gently. Lara glanced down to meet the gaze of her butler, Hillary.

"Yes?"

"There's a man here to see you."

She cursed to herself silently. First she put herself in a depressed state by thinking of Raziel, and now she has to deal with another bloody suitor who's only interested in the estate and her money. Just what she needed right now.

"Send the training robot up against him and get him out of here."

"I had expected such to be your command, Lady Croft," he replied, "so I took the liberty of telling Bryce to get Simon warmed up. Bryce is currently crying over the remnants of the machine."

Lara turned slowly back toward him, an eyebrow raised in intrigued curiosity.

"He somehow managed to cut it in two."

Surprised, and sufficiently interested now, Lara dropped off her block and headed out into the hall, pausing only to reattach her guns to her legs. It wasn't often she ran into any suitor who could take down Simon so easily, and if he proved . . . difficult to get rid of, she might just need her guns. But either way, this man might prove of some interest to her.

Out in the hall, she encountered the man calmly leaning against one of the columns. He looked up as she approached toward him, and she was immediately struck by his appearance. He wore solid black slacks, a plain dark blue shirt and odd black gloves that made his hands look somewhat awkward. He tugged at the sleeves of the shirt as if uncomfortable with it. He had prominent cheekbones, wind-tattered ebony black hair, and the most strikingly feral yellow-green eyes.

"Hello again, Lara."

Lara's expression of veneer detachment melted almost instantly into shock and utter surprise as she recognized the voice she hadn't heard for four years now.

"Raziel?!"


	2. The Search for Earth's Soul Reaver

I'll answer reviews next chapter. And to whomever keeps reviewing the Tomb Raider/Soul Reaver: World's Collide with numbers:

**__**

F**KING KNOCK IT OFF!!! FOR CHRIST'S SAKE, IF YOU WANT TO FLAME ME, DO IT, BUT DON'T WASTE MY F**KING GODD*MN TIME!!!

Next action will be to report you to fanfic, and I'm positive I have enough friends on here to make you're life miserable.

If any of you know who it is, tell him to stop it, please.

Anyway, here's the story.

Lara stepped closer to him, hardly believing her eyes. "What on Earth are you doing here?" He looked around himself.

"A very apropos statement," he commented, almost bitterly. Just as quickly, the tone was gone. "Would it be possible to speak to you in more . . . private quarters?"

Lara nodded and lead him into a smaller reclining room and indicated for him to take a seat. He sat only after she did.

"No doubt you have questions for me."

"Yes." Lara leaned forward slightly, interested. "What are you doing here, and why do you look . . . different than how I remember you?"

He actually smirked as he stated, "I believe I shall answer the latter first. It seems that the essence of this world has a bizarre effect on my form. None of my powers are altered, but I seem to have regained much of what I looked like as a vampire. I don't completely understand it, but it allows me to pass much more easily among humans. I just have to be careful about my eyes. As for why I'm here . . ." He hesitated. "Things in Nosgoth haven't particularly improved, and so Kain and I decided we were going to need more firepower, so to speak. We need the Soul Reaver."

Lara blinked at him. "Don't you have it already?"

"Our world's, yes, but I came here to look for _this_ world's Soul Reaver."

"What makes you think we'd have one?"

Raziel sighed. "You have the Pillars that resonate the same energy as ours, and they look the same. The Pillars are the lock, no matter what world they are on. And for every lock, there is a key, which is exactly what the Soul Reaver is. So I have come looking for your world's Soul Reaver. It probably won't look like ours, but it'll be here."

"All right." Lara nodded, taking in the information. "Why did you come to me? I can't say I've had a lot of experience with ancient swords. I don't run into those too often."

"I know. I came to you because you're the only human we know here, and the only one we can trust. I did a little research around your planet, so I know that the sword has probably already been found. It's most definitely in a private collection of some sword cache. I need your help to look for it."

Lara let her head rest on her hand and tapped her temple lightly as she thought. "Hm . . . well, let's see. As I recall, there's going to be a collector's exhibit tomorrow. I seem to remember them saying something about a sword, but I believe it was supposed to be Excalibur." She paused. "Although, with a reputation like that, I suppose . . . Hold on but a moment, Raziel, while I call a few contacts of mine and get us on that list."

"So you will help?"

"Of course," she responded, obviously surprised he asked. She walked out of the room, then came back in, after having made her calls.

"All right, we have an exhibit to go to tomorrow."

"Wonderful." He stood. "It was a welcome experience to see you again, Lara. I will be looking forward to tomorrow." He seemed like he was going to say something, then apparently changed his mind as he commented gently, "I will see you tomorrow then?"

The two stepped out into the main hall where Bryce was still whimpering over the machine.

"Oh, Bryce," Lara sighed, "I regularly cause that thing damage."

"I know, Lara," he whined, "but with you it's just bullets. He broke this thing in two." He glared accusingly at Raziel as he worked.

"And this is . . . ?" Raziel inquired, addressing Lara, but keeping his eyes on Bryce.

"This is Bryce. As someone close to my heart once called him, he's my 'pet nerd'."

"Oh Lara, please don't call me by that name. You know it annoys me to no end."

"Mainly because it's true?"

She led Raziel toward the door, ignoring Bryce as Raziel gazed at her curiously, almost sadly. Someone close to her heart?

'So,' he mused to himself regretfully. 'She took to heart what I said about it being a fling, hm? Oh well, it was probably better to be remembered as a lovely, one-time only thing.'

Lara waved to the door and Raziel stepped through the threshold back outside. He turned back to her as she said almost shyly, "I'm glad you're back for a visit, Raziel." Before he could inquire exactly what she meant, she had gently shut the door. He blinked slowly, wondering what had happened with Lara in his absence. She seemed happy to see him, but also sad and distant, as if he reminded her of some painful thought, a sensitively tender memory. What that was, he could not begin to guess.

Lara leaned back against the door and breathed a sigh. Hillary and Bryce watched her curiously, noting she was acting rather peculiarly. When she glanced up at them, they hastily vanished from sight. Well, Hillary did, anyway. Bryce went back to working on the broken machine. Lara shook her head as she headed back into the gym.


	3. An Intermission for the Second One!

Okay, reviewie page! First off, to the **person with the numbers**, _thank you very much_ for trying to encourage with the lots of reviews, and I'm glad you apologized and I'm sorry I snapped. It just bothered me. And you can say anything other than numbers, you know. Authors are just as happy to get a "cool!" or "neat" comment as they are to get long comments with constructive criticism. So I'm glad you like the story so much to spend such time on it, but saying something would be better. *grin* No hard feelings? Now that I know why it happened, I'm not mad, so I hope you won't hold any grudge against me.

Okay, reviews: As always: thanks to my little muse Zargreus. Isn't he cute? Anyway . . . .

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Kain-is-my-plushie- I know. Why do you think I stopped there? *impish grin, cuddles plushie*

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Concept of a demon- It's easy. See, my fingers stop typing, I look up and I think 'would my readers be annoyed if I stop here?' If the answer is no, I go back to writing. If it's yes, I stop. Why do you think I stopped where I did on TR/SR: World's Collide?

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Coldfire- I'm still typing my little fingers away to the bone just for _YOU_, so you'd better be happy. *mock glare*

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Mark- Answers came in the second chapter.

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J.M.S- I'm glad too.

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Septhiroth's Vampire Princess- For future reference, when I comment back to you, look for **SVP**. It's DragonSeer being lazy. I'll write more. And I'm glad you're liking it.

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Lunatic Pandora, Bloodthirsty, Morbid Knight- WHY are you three so interested in having Kain show up?! Do you want all of hell to break loose on Earth?! …… And let me guess, that was a stupid question, wasn't that? And yes, **Blood**, there will be a game of strip poker. I just don't know when. Hm…. *goes off talking to herself about Tomb Raiders, vampires, and card games*

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AmuseMe- No, amuse _ME!!_ But anyway, thank you, and as much as I wish wish wish I could, I can't come to England this year. Maybe next year, though.

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Raziella D. Reaver and **Syvia**- Thank you, glad you're enjoying it, and sit back and enjoy the show. *monotone recorded voice* Keep your hands and feet inside the cart at all times and do not feed the vampires or dragons . . . .

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Concept of a demon- Thank ya, I'm continuing, and no, it's not the dagger of Xian.

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Fallen Templar- I've read a lot of good things about you, but haven't had the honor of getting to respond to a review of yours. I'm am happy that you are enjoying this story, and I'm hoping I'm keeping you on the edge of your seat in excitement to read the rest. That goes for the rest of you, too. Am I doing it right? *looks around to see everyone comfortably reclining or laying down, no one on the edge* Ooohhh. *goes away sniffling*

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J.M.S- you'll see, you'll see.


	4. Swords and Time

Early the next day, Raziel walked calmly up to the mansion's door and knocked. Most people would have hurt their knuckles on the hard wood, or wouldn't have been loud enough to let anyone inside know they were there, but Raziel's claws felt nothing other than a slight rapping and Hillary in the main hall heard the knock quite clearly. With a curious expression on his face, he went to answer the door. When he saw it was only the Lord Raziel, and was expected by Lady Croft, his face moved into a slightly pleasant, if blank, expression. He led him into the hall, then indicated down it toward the end.

"The Lady Croft is waiting to receive you in her study. She asked you be led there."

Raziel nodded acceptance, and walked down the hall toward the closed door. He gently pushed it open to see Lara sitting at her desk, looking at what seemed to be a picture frame, a very mournful expression on her face. She sighed, as if the loss of whatever it was grieved her deeply. She glanced up, noticed Raziel, and quickly, but gently placed the picture face down and quickly rubbed her eyes. She managed a small smile as she walked over to him.

"Are you ready to go?"

"Quite."

They headed to the exhibit, both not saying anything to the other. It wasn't that they were uncomfortable; quite the opposite. They didn't feel that they had to speak to one another. It felt like they had known each other for so well and so long that speaking just wasn't necessary.

After a short time, they finally got to the exhibit hall. The place was huge, but was not packed, thankfully. It seemed only a select amount of people got in and Lara was silently thankful for the people in high places she knew whom she could call on for favors from time to time. The two traveled down the rows of people showing, trading and selling, looking for anything that even slightly resembled the Reaver. Lara wasn't particularly surprised when they didn't run across many swords. There just weren't a lot of them anymore. Finally, it was announced the grand finale was finally coming up. Lara looked up to the main stage and watched as they pulled out a rather large case covered in a cloth. They pulled it away to reveal a beautifully crafted sword that looked like it was made out of solid crystal. The handle was a silvery metal that almost looked like liquid quicksilver. There seemed to be a blood red sheen to it in some lights. From the side of a stage walked a man dressed in an American business suit. He looked like he was getting rather high in his years, and had a light fuzz of brown hair over his head. Looking at him, Lara's eyes widened.

"Is that who I think it is?" she demanded softly of Raziel.

"None other," he responded, his teeth gritted. "Moebius."

"But how is he out of the sword?"

"I don't know." Raziel's eyes narrowed as he looked at the Time Streamer. Then his eyes shifted of their own accord to the sword in the glass case. He felt the Reaver in the Spectral Realm crying out to it. So, this was Earth's Reaver, hm? He opened his claws and focused his will on the sword, drawing it mentally to his hand. The sword in the case started to shift and rattle slightly as Moebius went on talking about it to the people who were there. The sword's movements grew more frantic until they drew his attention to it as it smacked against the glass. It fell back, then shot forward once more and the glass broke. The crowds as a whole gasped and stepped back as the sword flipped round midair and jetted cleanly through the air, landing in Raziel's claws. Moebius' eyes widened as he recognized Lara and Raziel. He turned and started running off the stage and into the back as guards began pouring into the room.

"Follow that Time Streamer!" Raziel bellowed. Lara ran after him, noting the Reaver on his arms was snaking down into the crystal Reaver he held. The darted past the guards through the back of the stage and came across a fork in the hall. Raziel immediately went left while Lara slipped past him to the right. She raced down the hall, pulling her pack off her back so she could get her desert Eagle out. It was the only gun she had on her today, as she usually didn't do any shooting in public places. She rolled her eyes.

'I was traveling with Raziel of all people,' she thought to herself disgustedly, 'I should have known better.'

She rounded a corner with the pack still in her arms and found herself gazing at four guards, all with pistols out and aiming toward her. She skidded to a halt, making a quick evaluation on if she could get around a corner before they started firing.

'Too far,' she decided. Before the guards could do anything, they were batted away with energy bolts. Raziel's face appeared around the corner.

"Thought you might need a little help."

She easily slid into pace next to him as they continued down the hall and slammed open the door at the end. Beyond it was a large room in which stood none other than Moebius himself.

"How are you still alive?" Raziel growled, the Reaver shifting slightly in his grip. Moebius glared back at both of them.

"I had to give up so much more than you'll ever know to get out of _that_ little jam you two left me in! You'll never understand what it feels like to have your own god laugh at you for failing Him. But He helped me, and promised to get me what I lost again, once you're dead!"


	5. Time Streamer No More

He spun away as Raziel easily slashed forward with the sword. Raziel continued the attack, pressing harder and harder into his guard, but always Moebius seemed one step ahead, as if he knew exactly where each blow would fall. Lara took aim and shot with the Desert Eagle once as an experiment. She watched as by the time she had fired, he was no longer where he had been.

"You fools," Moebius chuckled. "You cannot touch me. I can see exactly where each sword stroke will fall long before it's there."

"What did you have to give up to be here, Moebius," Lara taunted. "You're most powerful and prideful possession of time?" She watched as his face narrowed. She had hit a nerve.

"You've never been a true Guardian, Lara," he hissed as he avoided Raziel. The Reaver of souls had drawn next to Lara. "You don't know what it's like to be apart of them for thousands of years. You'll learn eventually _if_ you were to live, but you don't know now. So you could never know what it's like to be revoked of that position, to lose touch with the Pillars."

Raziel, understanding, pointed out, "You're no longer the Guardian of the Pillar of Time, are you, old man?"

"Alas, no. It was the price my god assigned me for failing him. He felt that if my roll as Time Guardian had not alerted me to the end result of the battle, I needed it no longer."

Raziel smiled slowly. "Then it makes it all the more sweet killing you for all you have done to our world." He finished the thought with a pointed stroke of the sword, intended to behead the man, but just as before, Moebius was one step ahead of him. Lara frowned. This wouldn't do! She glanced upward and saw him moving under the hanging light fixture. Well, it seemed he could still foresee direct actions against him, but if he wasn't the Time Guardian anymore, could he still see indirect ones? Lara aimed and fired, her bullet breaking the wire holding the light aloft. It came crashing down and only Moebius' reflexes saved him from getting hit. Raziel's eyes lit with the new information given to him. He started spinning the sword before him very quickly until it became a circular blur. He turned to Lara and told her, "Shoot at me."

Lara blinked a few times, but starting shooting. With the sword moving so quickly, Raziel managed to deflect the bullets and shoot them toward Moebius. His eyes widened as he realized they had found a gaping whole in his armor. He resolved to do the one thing any normal man would have done long before: run. A bullet grazing his leg and side further added to the resolve. He darted out the door, slamming it behind him. Raziel and Lara followed, only to find themselves looking down the barrels of about twenty guns of guards who stood waiting for them. Raziel slammed the door shut and shoved Lara safely out of the way as he felt the bullets bit into his flesh. He moved away from the door and sighed as the flesh mended itself. Well, that was a pair of clothes ruined. He walked to where Lara stood.

"It seems we can't leave the normal way."

"That it does."

He extended his hand and she looked at it with foreboding, asking, "We're going into the Spectral Realm again, aren't we?"

"Would you rather stay here with them?" he jerked his head toward the closed door where the guards were telling them to come out slowly with their hands up. Lara snorted mentally. Like she hadn't heard that enough. She stood and took his hand. Raziel concentrated a moment, then slipped into the Spectral Realm, bringing Lara along with him. She looked around. Unlike on Nosgoth, there were no Sluagh here, and quite a few souls floating around.

"There's nothing here to eat them," he explained, seeing where she was looking. "Come on. I'll take you back to your mansion."

As they walked, he glanced over at her. "It seems that your house is . . . larger than most normal people's."

Lara nodded in response. "My family was one of the remaining noble families of England. I belong to high England aristocracy."

Raziel smirked as he looked at her. It would figure that of all the women he found tolerable, the one he liked most was of noble blood.

Lara glanced at him, then at the sword he still clutched in his hand. "What will you do with that?" she inquired, jerking her head to the sword he still held in his hand. He glanced down at it, as if only now realizing it was there. He shook his head slightly to clear it, then turned back to her.

"I'll take it back to Nosgoth and go speak with Kain."

"Although, a thought did occur to me. You said the Reaver was the key while the Pillars were the lock, right?" When he nodded, she continued, "Well, you came here for more firepower, yet what if Earth's Reaver doesn't work on Nosgoth because it is not there that has the lock?"

Raziel sighed. "I inquired the same thing of Kain, but he surmised that since the Pillars resonated the same energy, they might be the same lock. Which means that a key for one lock would be capable of unlocking the other. We had no reason to believe Earth's Reaver would work any differently on Nosgoth than the normal Reaver."

Lara was silent for a moment. "But with all these locks and keys, what are they locking in? Or out?"

Raziel fell silent for a long time, before finally answering, "I don't know. I've come to the conclusion that the Pillars were erected to either banish or cut the demons' powers, perhaps to lock them away somewhere. But with the Pillars here, I can't necessarily believe that's the case. If it were, it would mean that our two worlds are either not that far apart, or have been somehow in correlation with one another long ago. But that's not entirely likely. Both worlds would show strange similarities if that was the case, and aside from the humans, there really aren't any. So what could they possibly be holding?"

"Tell me, Raziel, is it possible that there are more Pillars on more planets? And if that's the case, could it be that they might just not be 'in phase' let's say, with these ones?"

Raziel shrugged, uncomfortable with the concept, but Lara continued headlessly.

"As such, is it not true that one could go so far to say that the Pillars hold the key to opening a gate to another dimension? Or perhaps even hold an entire planet?"

He sighed. "I don't know, Lara, I honestly don't know."

Silence fell between the two for a while as they continued walking before Lara finally broke it, asking, "So your stay with us has ended and you'll be going back to Nosgoth?"

Beside her, he nodded. "Yes, I believe I'm done here for right now. But I don't think I'll be leaving just yet." When Lara looked up at him, he continued, "I finished what I was sent here to do, but a new problem has opened itself up, and its name is Moebius." Lara smiled slightly.

After a while of walking, Raziel finally indicated to a form emerging out of the blue mists. She recognized it as a more malformed version of her mansion. He brought her to one of the conduits and shifted them back into the normal world. They calmly walked up to her mansion, and she opened the door to let him in. She closed the door quietly and started to walk past him, but was stopped as he gripped her hand lightly. She turned to look up at him and found his intense eyes staring down into her own. Not conscious of doing so, she stepped closer to him, laying her hand on his chest. Raziel's other claw drifted up to the side of her face and lifted it slightly toward him. He leaned toward her, and she stretched, allowing herself to drift closer to him.

Hillary suddenly came around the corner and spying them, shouted, "Oh thank God you're home, Lady Croft! Rose has been a terror ever since you left!"

"Oh no," Lara sighed.

"Rose?" Raziel asked blankly behind her. A scream broke off anything else he would have asked.


	6. A Rose By Any Other Name

From around the corner came Bryce, Lara's pet nerd, running at top speed. Right behind him was a partially fixed Simon and on top of it was a squealingly happy little girl. Bryce slipped, landed flat on his face, and slid a few feet, nearing the stone wall. The robot pulled back to pounce forward, and Lara realized it would smash into the wall with the little girl on it.

"Rose!" she cried. Before she had even finished the exclamation, Raziel had jumped onto the heaving mechanical thing, grabbed the little girl, and jumped off as Simon smashed into the wall and fell to the floor near Bryce, twitching. Raziel stared at the machine until the squiggling girl in his arms drew his attention down to her by saying to him, "Thank you."

The girl in his arms looked small, perhaps four years old, and struck him with her appearance immediately. She had shoulder length dark brown hair with highlights of red and the top half was pulled into a braid much like Lara's. The bottom was left looking rather wind blown and tattered and much darker than the top. She gazed up at him with feral yellow-green eyes, and pointed ears poked out of her hair. The hands that clutched his were three fingered and the feet that kicked the air were cloven. He could see little fangs peeking through her lips slightly. Lara took her into her arms.

"Rose, what have I told you about playing with the machine?"

"Sorry, Mummy," the little girl apologized. "But it's fun to watch pet nerd run round!"

Lara sighed, hiding a smile behind a motherly annoyed expression. "Rose," she said sternly, "why don't you go play with your ball? Much safer."

"Ball!" The little girl squirmed out of Lara's arms, who was happy to set her down. She started to run up the stairs, the stopped and turned around.

"Mummy, who's the man?" She pointed a claw at Raziel.

"He's a friend of Mummy's, sweetheart," she explained, while thinking '_Sweetheart?!_ Who would have ever thought **_I'd_** be calling someone sweetheart?'

"Oh. He's has hands like me!"

"That he does, dear," Lara smiled.

Impulsively, Rose ran over to Raziel and held her arms up, silently asking to be picked up. Raziel leaned down and did so, almost in a daze. Rose hugged him, squiggled back out of his arms, and ran up stairs, shouting, "Ball!" Lara took one look at Raziel's thunderstruck expression and led him into her study. She made him sit down, then took a seat next to him. After a moment, he was finally able to talk.

"Who . . . who . . . _WHAT_ was _THAT?!_"

"That was a child," Lara explained patiently.

"I know that," he retorted. "Whose?"

"Mine."

"But . . ." he repeated. "She had all the markings of a vampire, and she looked about four, which means you must have conceived . . . on . . . Nosgoth . . ."

Lara nodded silently.

"Did you sleep with any vampires there?"

She shook her head slowly and his eyes widened as it sank in.

"She's . . ." he trailed off and pointed to himself, mouthing the word 'mine?' as if he couldn't get any air through his mouth to finish the word. She nodded gravely. He looked down at his claws and clenched them.

"Mine . . ." he whispered. He shook his head. "Kain's going to have a field day."

"Why would you say that?"

"I think I just unintentionally created a new brood. A species of vampires that could breed." He blinked a few times, still trying to let the thought sink into his head. "I say again, Kain is going to have a field day."

At Lara's blinking, he sighed. "You don't understand. Vampires were the original Guardians of the Pillars of Nosogth, and for some reason or another, they all died. The Pillars chose their Guardians at birth, which is why the Pillars started to choose humans over vampires. I may have just created a brood that can retake that spot, and can breed more vampires." He let his head drift into his claws as he mumbled, "I know they told me I was to be the savior of Nosgoth, but this is most definitely _not_ what I expected."

After a moment, he looked up at her again. "Yet I'm surprised. I told you when … that night happened, that nothing would come of it. Yet something did. I am surprised you kept it … her. Rose," he tried the name out on his tongue. "Why Rose?"

"A name that begins with 'R' in honor of her father, and she was beautiful, but deadly. So Rose it was. She had almost made the doctors have to forcibly cut open my womb and take her out, because when her time came, she hadn't wanted to leave. Thankfully, she seemed to realize if she didn't leave, she could kill her mother." She paused. "Or maybe she knew she'd want to torment Bryce too much."

Raziel paused, then asked hesitantly, "Is she the one you spoke of as being close to your heart who called Bryce your pet nerd?" To his relief, she nodded. So, there might not be another man there, then.

"Yes, she was. Refuses to call him anything else, too, that little rascal." But she smiled while she said it.

"Why didn't I meet her before? She seems . . . hyperactive enough to have been up and around when I first came."

Lara sighed and let her head rest on her hand. "She sleeps through the day and is up at night."

"Ah."

"Drives me crazy. At times she seems more vampire than human."

"How do you know she's not?"

Lara chuckled dryly. "She eats and drinks, takes regular baths, walks around in the day with no problems. She also once disappeared into the Spectral Realm when she was very little and sick. I doubt she remembers that she did or how to now. She seems to be a combination of human, vampire, and Soul Reaver."

"Alive, undead, and dead spirit wraith. What does that make her? She's not alive, as she's partially dead and undead, but she's not dead or undead, as she's partially alive."

Lara shrugged. "I have no idea."

Raziel stood and moved next to her on the loveseat she sat. He reached up and turned her ace toward him, looking into her eyes.

"You are an amazing woman, Lara Croft."

His other claw moved to the other side of her face, and he pulled her toward him and kissed her very gently. Suddenly, alarms went off throughout the house.


	7. A Rude Interruption

"You are an amazing woman, Lara Croft."

His other claw moved to the other side of her face, and he pulled her toward him and kissed her very gently. Suddenly, alarms went off throughout the house. Raziel released her and glanced around, eyes wide.

"What in blazes is that infernal racket?"

Lara, who know what this meant, raced toward her desk. She tapped a certain spot on the desktop and watched as a part flipped up to reveal a laptop hidden in the wood. She quickly flipped on the security cameras and watched people come pouring into her house, wearing thick reinforced armor and wielding guns. Lara's eyes narrowed. Someone was breaking into her house _again?!_ And in the daytime, no less. Whoever did that these days? _And WHO came in through the front door?!_

She dashed up the stairs into the library, trusting Raziel to follow her.

"Dare I ask what do they want?"

Lara bit her lip. "I don't honestly know," she responded. "I haven't done anything to draw their attention recently, except . . ." she trailed off, a horrified look in her eyes. "Where's the Reaver, Raziel?"

He blinked. "I left it on the table in the main hall behind the glass doors as we passed through it. Why?"

She only grimaced in response, and flipped a specific book around on its shelf. A wall on the other side of the room slid back and to the side. Raziel watched it with a raised eyebrow, then followed her as she darted into it. Inside was a small, dark walk space. Lara jogged up and touched a pressure pad, letting the door open slowly. It opened a picture of some kind or another put against the wall about three feet above the ground. She dropped out quietly, Raziel following her. The picture swung silently closed behind them. She moved behind a pillar and glanced down into the main hall. There was a collection of men who were working quickly to open the doors that sealed them from their prize. Lara's eyebrow raised. These men were very well trained and in the few moments it had taken Lara and Raziel to get there, they had almost everything set up.

A loud explosion interrupted her thought. 'Never mind,' she thought grimly. 'They're done.'

She heard them move, heard the metallic shink as they picked up the Reaver off of the table. Lara privately wished Raziel _hadn't_ destroyed Simon. With the robot, they could have gotten out of this predicament quickly and easily.

Suddenly, a male voice boomed out for Lara Croft to step out with her hands up. Her eyebrows knitted together. Once most goons got what they wanted, they left, and didn't demand for her to come out. Usually they were too glad to get out alive. Lara touched Raziel's shoulder.

"You have better eye sight than I," she whispered. "Do their uniforms or helmets say anything?"

Raziel glanced over the edge of the rail and narrowed his eyes. "There's something on their helmet. Let me see if I can make it out . . ." He paused. "Scot laind iard?" He shook his head slightly. Lara gave him a confused expression, then understanding and horror set in.

_"Scotland Yard?!" _She peered around the pillar. Indeed, the man who was still calling for her to come out did have a helmet she could just barely make out as saying, "Scotland Yard." She stood, brushed herself off, and stepped into view, hands up.

"What are you doing?" Raziel demanded.

"These are one of the few people I care about if they like me or not. I'd rather not have to kill any of them."

"Ah," the man murmured, seeing her step out into the open. Raziel followed her example, though not liking it. "Miss Croft, how good of you to willingly submit. I was rather afraid of I'd lose many of my men to your infamous gun collection. Now come with us. You are under arrest—"

"On the contrary," another voice interrupted. Moebius came in through the front door. "I am not pressing any charges."

The man blinked at him in confusion, but Moebius, Lara and Raziel all exchanged a single look. Moebius was well aware trying to lock Lara and Raziel up would be pointless and a waste of time. Nothing on this planet could hold Raziel, he's just find Lara, and they'd both be out of there. So instead, he simply took the Reaver. He would move it to a more . . . inconvenient place. Inconvenient for them, anyway. He suppressed a dark chuckled and walked out of the mansion. The Scotland Yard piled out after him. Without Moebius pressing any charges, there wasn't much more any of them could do. Lara glanced over at Raziel to see he was silently shaking in rage. She suddenly realized he would probably jump after him if she didn't do something. She reached over and touched his arm, afraid he'd do something rash. She could feel the skin twitching. Her eyebrows knitted together. For someone to hold this much anger . . . Anger could too easily rule one's emotions, so Lara tried to take everything with an amused detachment.

Her hand slid down and carefully wrapped around his claws, pulling it up in front of her face. He glanced at her, a little surprise showing through the anger. Acting on half-felt impulses and intuition, she placed his claws against her face. The anger bled away to surprise and something else she couldn't quite name. His other claw came up to her face and pulled her body against his. A sigh of pleasure escaped Lara.

'It was a fling. It was a fling,' she thought to herself like a mantra. Then she felt his lips as he kissed her and she lost herself to the kiss.

(A/N: Sorry about this chapter being rather short. I have more ideas where it's going, really I do! It's just, well, I need my muse and my muse it, well, rather busy right now. So I'll hopefully write more tonight when I talk to him, MAYBE I'll get another chapter up tonight, but probably not until tomorrow or Sun. So, yeah. It's nice to know I have this many people reading my story. 61 reviews for my 6 chapter story! Wooo!

*goes off mumbling something about angels at school when they should be at home giving their dragon mates ideas . . .*


	8. Another Intermission Thingie!

YAY! Another annoying INTERMISSION thingie! First of all, I hope you were all surprised with Rose! If you noticed, I didn't answer a single review from those of you questioning about the kid. I hope that helped build dramatic tension. Let me know if it worked, kay? I'd also love to know your opinions and any questions or comments you have about her (I'm more willing to answer them now.) But as such, I must make this comment:

LoK does not belong to me (I know, I know, a bit late, but hey, better late than never) except for Jials McKintrey (who will make an appearance again) and Rose is MINE MINE MINE! *impish grin* And yes, Rose will become an important character, but future wise, that's the only hint I'm going to give you . . .

Okay, and I lied. I said I'd get another update by Sun. I didn't. I was busy, and I'll warn you, I had stuff to do, so the next chapter IS short. I promise I'l make the next one bigger. Can't promise WHEN, but it will be longer.

First review . . . uh . . . (**diamond, diamond, diamond**) ß You are seeing diamonds here, not the word. Really! *anime sweatdrop* Um, okay ******** **will work. Anyway, thank you, and I love cliffhangers. Cliffhangers are my friends.

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Coldfang- Gland you like it . . . wa? Did I just type _gland?!_ Oops. Glad, anyway. I'm doing my best to keep you all happy.

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Concept of a demon and **Bloodthirsty**- thank you for your continued viewing. It's nice to know I've got people coming back to read it constantly. That goes for you too, **1.**

Fallen Templar- yup, yup, yup, the Time Streamer is still alive. Hey, I had to have ONE reoccurring villain from the LoK world, didn't I? Anyone want to place bets on _HOW _long he stays alive this time?

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SVP- *lmao* If I wasn't trying to keep them in character, you can bet I'd have used that line! HAHAHA!!! Unfortunately, both Lara and Raz have tendencies of shooting first, making jokes later. Oh well. One can always try.

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Alc- thank you, and did that answer your question?

To the enigmatic **_NUMBER ONE!!!_** (oohhhh scary!! *grin*) All well that ends well, no complaints from me anymore, and I'm glad you like the story. Let's see, I explained the whole Moebius getting out of the sword thing, and yeah, I'm sure you probably know who Moebius' god is that he mentions.

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Bloodthirsty- Again, like with SVP's little thing, *lmao* Of course, by this point I'm on the floor laughing. Again, if I wasn't going to keep them in character, I'd use it, believe me. Almost makes me wish I wasn't attempting to keep them in character . . .

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Morbid Knight- Yes, Kain will be in this story. And no, he's not going to help our inevitable destruction. At least, not now. Maybe later.

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Syvia and **Concept of a demon**- Yup. Rose.

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Fanatical-Chick and **Raziella D. Reaver**- thank ya, and I know everyone hates Moebius. They all want him to vanish off the face of the planet. Maybe he will, maybe he won't.

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Rocker Baby- So, what do you think of Rose?

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Coldfire- Yup, a girl. Well, it just seems right. I mean, I though child of Lara and Raziel and I thought, GIRL! And there is actually a reason Rose is a girl.

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SpitefulHope and **Kain-is-my-plushie**- Still got the plushie! *holds it up, then squeezes it* Thank you, and I'm glad you're enjoying the ride. Can't wait to see what you'll say about the drop at the botto— Ah ERM, uh, the nice little . . . happy-go-lucky tapering out at the end, right!

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SVP- I'm sure Sephie's got better things to do than antagonize me. And I can go off and stare at his backside . . . *slaps self* Back to reality, DragonSeer.

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Lunatic Pandora- Heh. It's always amusing to see who favors Raz or Kain above the other. Me, I like both for different reasons.

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VladimirsAngel- Naahhh, more along the lines they both have bad luck and keep getting interrupted. As for your questions, well, you'll see and you'll see. Well, I can tell you about her opinion of the school system, I suppose. It's simple. She's a typical kid: she doesn't like it. *shrug* I'll go into detail later on that topic.

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Fiction Lord- squiggle bottom. (If you don't understand the response, check out I think it's my last page of responses on Tomb Raider and Soul Reaver: World's Collide.)

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Mark- Yeah, I know, but could you imagine the hell Lara would have if she killed Scotland Yard men? Plus they don't know who they're working for. They aren't even really working for him. He just filed a complaint about the sword being stolen. Moebius has apparently been on Earth a lot longer than they think.


	9. Love and Family?

"LARA!" a worried voice called. Reality cracked across her head as Bryce's voice registered in her mind. She found herself pressed up against Raziel, her arms about his neck. His claws had slipped around her waist, holding her against him. As if just becoming aware of what he was doing, he released her as she pulled away. Lara walked to the stairs and stepped down them, shoving the kiss back into her mind. It was okay when she had to remind herself it was a fling. It was okay when she just wanted to kiss him once, to remember what it felt like. But it was definitely _not_ okay for her to begin to desire him as much as she did. Just the nearness of his body reminded her of traveling through Nosgoth when she had kept pace behind him. It was all right to dream of him; it was not all right to act on it. She was of British aristocracy, and was not supposed to be acting like a teenager with a crush.

"Up here, Bryce," she assured him. Bryce looked up.

"Thank God. I was afraid they'd taken you with them."

Lara simply shook her head and walked down to her study. Raziel followed behind her and took a seat, watching her. He wasn't sure quite what was going on between the two of them anymore. He had thought perhaps she hadn't cared about that night nearly five years ago, but the way she acted and looked at him and assured him that there was something there. He had then wondered if there was someone else, but she hadn't stated anything to the effect of. And when they kissed . . .

He shook his head slightly. Kain was right. There was something there, but she seemed . . . hesitant. Not so much unsure of herself, but more like she wanted to give in, that she was going to, and then something would remind her of a nagging thought and she'd pull away. Raziel's eyes narrowed. He wanted to know what it was so that he could end the impediment.

Lara sat down and sighed. "What do we do now? We have no idea where he's taken it to and once we figure . . ." Lara paused, valiantly trying to keep her face straight as she continued, "out where it is, chances are we . . ." a smirk slid through, "won't be powerful enough to get in."

Raziel raised an eyebrow, wondering what had gotten into her, when he suddenly became aware of an object hitting him in the back of the head repeatedly. He turned and looked down as a tennis ball smacked him lightly in the forehead. It didn't phase him. His eyebrows knit together when he saw Rose sitting behind him, holding it.

"Ball!"

"Was this what was amusing you?" he inquired to Lara.

"She was throwing a ping pong ball at you earlier, but it took the tennis ball for you to notice."

"Am I the first to graduate to tennis ball?"

"No." She shook her head. "There was one other."

"And that was?" When she didn't answer, he supplied, "You, eh?"

He twisted, caught Rose before she could throw it again, and dragged her into his lap, growling, "Come here you." Rose squealed in joy, squirming around to playfully try to get away. He wrestled with her a few minutes, surprised at her strength. She was arguably stronger than a human, and if her muscle structure grew as she did, she could eventually be theoretically stronger than a vampire at adulthood. Lara watched the two of them, a slight smile on her face and caught herself thinking, _Now this is how it should be._ She quickly suppressed the thought.

After a while, Rose tired out and snuggled into a ball on his lap, falling asleep almost instantly. Raziel addressed Lara's question while running a claw over Rose's hair gently.

"You are undoubtedly correct on that, so I believe we may have to call in for some help on this."

"And to who are we going to go to?"

Raziel smirked maliciously. "Are you up for a trip to Nosgoth, Lara?"


	10. Unmentioned Name

A day later, Lara and Raziel were standing in front of the huge building that surrounded the Pillars. Raziel eyed it curiously.

"Judging from yesterday's experience, I would surmise that these so called . . . Scotland Yard humans would be all over this place."

Lara chuckled dryly. "Normally, they would be. But they took one look at the two names on the list and decided it would be better off if they just stayed out of the way. Strange things have a habit of happening around me and my compatriot."

"So it was you and one other?"

Lara nodded and before Raziel could question further, the owner of the previously unmentioned name pushed open the doors and stood blinking in the sunlight for a long moment. Then Jials McKintrey smiled widely and walked to where the two stood. He had improved since she had last seen him nearly five years ago. While his hair still retained its white streaks, it was gelled back and his blue eyes had light speckles in them again.

"Lara! Wonderful to see you again!" He took her hands in his and kissed either cheek. "I was afraid you blamed me for everything that happened to you."

Lara smiled slightly. "No, Jials, heavens no. I just blame you for getting me into that situation."

"Now, now, Lara. Last I checked, you let that situation get . . . _into_ you."

"Jials!"

"Sorry." He held his hands up in defeat. "It's my dirty American sense of humor speaking."

Raziel raised an eyebrow, but decided he was going to stay quiet. What these humans did in their own time was their deal. Even if it meant making bad sexual jokes. Jials turned to him.

"Forgive me. I don't believe I know you. And you might be?"

"Raziel," was the short response.

"Oh." He turned to look at Lara and noticed she had an eyebrow raised. His eye twitched as if something sank in. _"OH!!"_ He hastily coughed and began making his way back to the building.

"In the meantime, what can I do for you two?"

"Oh, nothing really," Lara stated. "We just need to get through your building and get to the portal."

Jials stopped dead and turned back to them. "You're planning on going through again? Last I checked, Lara, you're last words to me before you stormed out of here were . . . what were they again? Ah yes. 'My debt is paid tenfold. I am never going through that portal again, and if you contact me about doing such, then shove it up your arse and bugger off'?"

Lara nodded slowly. "I believe those were my words, yes."

"And now you want to go back into the portal _again?!_"

"I never said _I_ wasn't going to go back into the portal. I just said that _you_ couldn't come asking me to do it."

"You mean I could have sent one of my minions to ask you and possibly gotten a yes?"

Lara paused, then responded, "In theory, yes."

"Blast!" Jials began walking toward the building again at a feverish pace. Lara and Raziel followed him. Raziel glanced over at her.

"Paid your debt tenfold?" he inquired. Lara shrugged.

"When I came back, Jials sent me to a medic to have me checked over for any diseases or bacteria that might have come with me from Nosgoth. It was then that I found that I was pregnant. The statement Jials recited was one I made in anger and surprise about finding out."

"Were you angry with me, then, Lara?"

Lara stopped and looked up at him. "No, Raziel, I was not angry. What I was, was merely confused and frustrated. I'm a very active woman by nature, and to not be able to stretch my body to the limits for nine months straight for fear of hurting the child was a harsh blow to me. And then I actually stayed home for four years, to watch her grow and to raise her. You have no idea how tempted I was to get an abortion during the pregnancy. I would get my body and my life back, and since I thought I'd never see you again, there'd be no harm, no foul."

"Then why didn't you?" he asked after a moment. She breathed in as if to answer, hesitated, then let her breath out slowly.

"Because . . . I didn't want to. I think I wanted there to be something from that night. I wanted . . ." She hesitated again. "I didn't think I was going to see you again and I wanted a piece of you always near me."

Raziel touched her cheek gently, not knowing how to respond. Half of him wished she hadn't put this on herself, but the other half was elated she had cared that much about that night.

Jials leaned against the door, watching the two. So . . . this was the one and only Raziel, hm? This explained much, then. He watched them interact with each other, a single raised eyebrow and an amused smile. He noted the hesitance with which they spoke, but how much emotion came through one simple gesture such as Raziel touching her cheek. And as he watched the two of them, he became aware of something that Kain had begun to guess by the end of Lara's initial trip to Nosgoth: that Raziel and Lara were utterly, hopelessly, and completely in love with one another.


	11. A Master Vampire Who Plays Card Games?

After a moment, Lara turned away from him and began walking toward Jials. Raziel followed slowly behind, and a malicious smile broke out across Jials' face as Raziel's eyes traveled across Lara's backside. Well, where there was love, there was lust. He pushed the door open and held it for the two, shaking his head and hiding his smile. Lara headed through the halls, not needing to know where she was going. She could almost _feel_ where the Pillars were and how to get them. Stepping out into the light and laying eyes on them almost felt like coming home. She hadn't realized how much she had missed them. It must have had to do with her being a Pillar Guardian. The oblong portal still rippled in the afternoon heat, little crackles of energy running through it. She headed up to it, then stopped and looked at Raziel. He walked up and stepped through it. Lara glanced at Jials. He saluted her.

"Tally ho."

Lara shook her head and rolled her eyes as she stepped through. The humidity of Nosgoth wrapped around her, and the first thing that greeted her was one of the annoying little light glowy bugs. She blew at it and waved it away, but it persistently kept return to her face. Raziel watched with a smirk as he pulled off the shirt, and wrapped his clan tabard back around his face that he had set here to get later. As she tried to smack the bug again, Raziel took her arm and slipped into the Spectral Realm to get her away from the bug. She jumped in surprise as the world turned blue, then she fixed Raziel with a pointed glare.

"You did it again."

"Did what?" Raziel asked innocently.

"Dragged me into the Spectral Realm with asking me."

"I was just trying to be helpful and get you away from the bugs . . ." He took her to one of the conduits and shifted back into the real world. She glanced around cautiously, but it seemed the bug had given up and flown away. She looked up at Raziel.

"Where to?"

"This way." He started walking down one of the paths away from the Pillars. She followed behind him, looking around at the massive greenery. Rays of sunlight slid down through the interconnecting tree branches, giving the place an almost heavenly look. It contrasted greatly with the fact that the superior hunting species on the planet was vampires. It was almost perfectly ironic.

'But then,' Lara mused to herself idly, 'humans haven't done all that well as it is.'

Raziel led her through the twists and turns, leaving her completely confused as to where they were. This wasn't one of the paths she had been down with Raziel and Kain before. The trees curved up and locked above, creating the feel of a tunnel. The trees suddenly opened up to a huge building done with gothic architecture. Lara raised an eyebrow, but followed Raziel. The double doors that allowed access to the internal structure were thrown wide open, welcoming all. Or perhaps as a silent challenge. What had to be vampires were standing in the darkness, just out of the sun's reach. Humans walked freely in and out of the building. And as impressive as it was, Raziel still traveled into it and didn't stop. The humans stopped to gawk at Raziel and then to blink in confusion at Lara. Several vampires nodded toward Raziel, which he politely returned. Then their inhuman eyes turned on her in a mixture of curiosity and disregard. And still Raziel continued.

He finally came to a stop at the entrance to small antechamber. Around him, Lara could see the unmistakable form of none other than Kain, gesticulating fiercely, enwrapped in what was apparently berating a pair of younger vampires. They shrank back from him in utter terror, nodding furiously to get the hell out of the room with their heads attached. Finally, he snorted and indicated for them to leave. The beat a hasty retreat out the door, not pausing to glance at Raziel or Lara. Raziel nodded to Kain as he stepped in, then moved to the side to expose Lara. Kain strode up to where she stood and stood gazing down at her, eyes yellow eyes narrow. He indicated to Raziel who bowed and stepped out of the room, shutting the door behind him. Lara's eyes narrowed. Raziel bowing to Kain? What was going on here?

She looked back up at Kain, then in a movement faster than she could follow, she was swept up and her feet were dangling about three feet above the ground as she was encased in a massive hug that would have broken the bones of a lesser woman. Raziel stepped back into the room, chuckling. Lara was set down and she saw that Kain was well was grinning. He glanced up at Raziel.

"Judging by the fact you don't have Earth's Reaver and that Lara is here, something happened that wasn't according to plan. Enlighten me of what has occurred."

Raziel quickly summarized the finding of the Reaver, then the recapture of it back into Moebius' possession. When told of Moebius' escape, Kain's eyes narrowed in concern.

"And I had hoped he might stay locked up. It was a foolish hope, it seems."

"That it does," Raziel agreed. He quickly ran over the rest about Moebius employing the local authorities and the fact they were going to need more firepower if they were going to get the Reaver. Kain smirked maliciously.

"So you came to me." He stood with a sigh, and glanced around. "Were that it were only a few days later. Unfortunately, I am not capable of leaving, but believe me, if I could, I would in a heartbeat." He rubbed his chin a moment. "I believe I can set up a small group of vampires to supply you with the necessary . . . _firepower_ you require. I was already beginning to plot out a group to go to Earth, but I hadn't been thinking of fighting capability. However, a few tweaks to the planned group shall suffice."

Lara blinked at him. "Why had you been planning a group already?"

He turned to her. "Because, Lara, Nosgoth has been in the darkness long enough. We want to enhance its technological path, to give it a push in the right direction. So we'll use your world's technology to do just that. In return, as the two worlds become more comfortable with one another, we will introduce you back to magic."

"Do you think either world is truly ready?"

Kain chuckle dryly. "I don't think either side will ever be ready. But we've lived in the dark ages long enough, and you've lived without the flare of life that magic gives for far too long." He paused. "I believe I'll have the group together and there the day after tomorrow."

Lara nodded acceptance and turned toward the door. She stopped when she found Raziel standing in front of it, shutting it softly to deny her passage. Confusion settled on her features.

"I believe," Kain began. Lara turned toward him as he continued, holding up a small rectangular package, "that you owe us a game of strip poker."


	12. STRIP POKER! And they're back?

(Some Blood Omen 2 spoilers in here. What can I say? I just finished watching about two, maybe three hours of it played this weekend, so you knew it was going to come up in here.)

Lara flipped the cards over and set them on the ground. Both men groaned slightly as she smirked triumphantly and held her hand out saying, "Hand them over, boys." Both Kain and Raziel handed over their clan's tabard. Lara suppressed a smile as she set them down carefully on the pile she was collecting. There was a reason Bryce and Hillary didn't play strip poker with her anymore.

As she grabbed the cards up and started re-shuffling, Kain looked toward Raziel, inquiring, "Whose idea was it to play this bloody game?"

Both men glared accusingly at one another as Lara calmly continued to shuffle, then deal out. Either Nosgothian was down to the leather pants they both wore. The master vampire and the Soul Reaver grabbed their cards slowly and silence descended on the three as cards were moved, placed, and exchanged, each trying to outdo the other. Suddenly, Raziel chuckled softly and set down his hand. Lara glanced at it, an eyebrow raised.

'Wow. He actually won.'

"So?" Raziel asked softly. "Isn't this the point where you drop one of your pieces of clothing?"

"Nope," she responded, keeping her face very straight. "You get one of yours back."

"Now, wait a minute—"

"How long have you been on Earth?" Lara interrupted. Raziel's eyes narrowed, but she looked at him expectantly. "Well?"

"You know," he retorted. Her gaze turned to Kain who simply shrugged, still looking at his hand.

"Haven't had the pleasure of visiting."

"Exactly." Lara took up the cards and shuffled again, but Kain stood slowly with a sigh, stretching out after having been sitting for so long. Even a dead body had a tendency of getting stiff if one held still too long.

"As entertaining as this is, Lara, I'm afraid I'm going to have to resign, and you might want to think about heading back home. I do need to get to work on pulling together that group you wanted, and I'm sure you have some last minute ends to clean up at your home. Raziel," he turned to him, "I assume you will be going with Lara, correct?"

Raziel nodded silently and stood. Lara carefully slid the cards away, then followed suit. Kain nodded toward the chamber doors.

"I believe I'll come back with you. I'd like to see what state the portal is in right now as it stands. I had been wanting to earlier, but this will allow me to be able to get out there."

Raziel opened the door and bowed toward Lara in a very gentlemanly manner, indicating with a waved hand for her to step through first. Kain followed her, and Raziel shut the door softly after he had gone through. Kain took the lead, walking toward the huge double doors of the cathedral-like structure. Lara watched as vampires and humans on either side bowed deeply to Kain as he passed by, and she was accorded with much more interest on the way out than in. While a human woman travelling in the accompaniment of the Soul Reaver was strange but not particularly amazing, a human woman who had apparently gained both the Soul Reaver's and the master vampire Kain's confidence was worthy of note.

Kain stepped into the sun with no hesitation, a movement Lara filed away for future reference. It seemed if a vampire grew old enough, they grew a tolerance, perhaps even an immunity to the sun's light. He glanced around, memorizing the greenery of the place. The broken down and dying Nosogth was still a strong image in his mind's eye, and he enjoyed being reminded of the life of the planet. He moved into an easy pace, remembering from their travels nearly five years ago how fast Lara could move comfortably. That was one of the few things he found truly interesting about her: her lack of patience with a calm, easy pace. She often seemed to prefer the harder path to the easier one.

Forest passed by and after a few twists and turns of the path, the gothic cathedral was left behind, as well as the humans and vampires. The sun was nearing the horizon, the rays that slid through the trees no longer yellow, but a deep gold. They had gotten about three fourths of the way through, Lara estimated, when there came a deep his from around the twist of the path. Kain slowed, his eyes narrowed, but he stepped around. Lara and Raziel followed in time to note the widening of his eyes. 

Standing before them were four very bizarre . . . creatures. Even in her travels, Lara had never seen anything of their like, and a quick glance at Raziel assured her he had the same sentiments. It seemed only Kain knew what they were. All four stood on their back legs and were roughly humanoid in shape. Two had multiple horns shooting off the top of their head in a horizontal line and wore blue, almost priest-like robes. Golden light collected around their claws. The other two didn't have any hands, but instead long blades for arms, which ended at the elbow in a wicked spike. They had a pair of spiraled horns coming off their head, and what looked like a loincloth. Even as they hissed and readied their weapons, Kain had lunged forward with deadly accuracy, targeting one of the "warriors." Neither feeling particularly like asking him, Raziel let the Reaver manifest and Lara pulled out her pistols. She took aim for one of the blue-robbed things and pulled both triggers. To her surprise, the thing grunted slightly, but took the pain extremely well, moving forward toward her. It was promptly slammed back by a Reaver bolt, giving Lara ample time to get out the bigger weaponry. Bored, she got out the grenade launcher. Fortunately or unfortunately, she didn't get a chance to use it.

Kain slammed his claws into the creature, feeling its skin tear underneath them. He continued with an upper slash, then a backhanded strike. The thing recoiled, then came forward with its own set of attacks. Kain moved into a defensive position, and negated all the attacks, drawing energy from the thing's anger. Lara and Raziel watched out of the corner of their eyes as Kain began to glow with red energy. He pulled back and threw his arms up, releasing the energy. The creature was lifted and held midair, a pillar of light surrounding it, then the energy exploded in flame, leaving the thing on the ground, dead and burning. He moved into the guard of the next blue-robbed creature and continued on the attack.

Mere moments and one Berserk* later, the last blue-robe lay on its back. Raziel quickly drew in their souls, and stepped back, surprised, as the first one raced into his mouth.

"Quite powerful."

Kain looked up after he finished feeding, and wiped his mouth. "Yes. These are the Hylden, Raziel, and I'm quite surprised to see them. They are very much out of their time here." He kicked one of the bodies disgustedly. "Here is the race that the Ancients fought so hard against."

"What are they doing here?"

"I don't know," he responded honestly. His eyebrows knit together. "This worries me greatly. I believe I'll have to look into this."

He stepped over them and continued down the way toward the Pillars. Raziel and Lara followed, exchanging a worried look. Things were never bad enough, it seemed. There was always something worse waiting around the corner.

At last the marble of the Pillars rose before them, and soon the wavering portal flickered into view. Kain took Lara's hand and brought it to his lips, kissing the top of it lightly.

"I wish you luck, Lady Croft." He released her hand and turned to Raziel. "And you, too. Good luck to both of you."

Lara nodded her thanks and stepped back into the portal. Raziel followed suit, appearing back in the afternoon light of England. Jials came out to meet them a mere minute later.

"Well, that didn't take long at all. How'd it go?"

"We got what we needed," Lara replied shortly. "Thank you, Jials, and I believe we will be heading home now."

"Good-bye," Jials wished them cheerily as Raziel looked down at Lara's back.

' "We"?'

*For those of you who've played Blood Omen 2, you know what this is. For those of you who don't, it's an ability that Kain gets in the game. The one he used before that was Immolate, by the by.


	13. Fiance?

Lara pushed open the door and sighed deeply, letting the events of the day rush out of her. Raziel, who stood behind her, looked down at her worriedly.

"Are you all right, Lara?"

She rolled her head from side to side, letting the neck crack before answering, "Yes, I am all right. Just a bit tired, that's all."

"Lady Croft?" Lara looked up to see Hillary coming into the main hall. "You have a guest. Mr. Nigel Foxsworth is here, and he is asking for you."

Lara's eyes widened in surprise as Raziel's eyebrows knit together. She hurriedly moved down the hall toward the reclining room while Raziel glanced at Hillary in confusion. Seeing his bewildered look, Hillary stated simply, "Lady Croft's current suitor and possible fiancé."

Raziel's eyes flashed and his claws curled in on themselves, the knuckles cracking ominously as he made his way after Lara. So was this the problem that had stood between them for so long . . . ?

Lara quickly went into the room and found a man sitting in a chair, Rose on his lap. He had gray-blue eyes and dirty-blonde hair which was gelled back. He looked up and smiled at her, and the smile was dazzling. She felt it sneak into her body and warm her to her core. Then a light clawed touch on her back caused that warmth to become freezing ice as she realized she had Nigel, her potential fiancé and husband, and Raziel, her lover, in the same room. She bit her lip as she walked toward him. She had a feeling this was not going to end well.

Nigel looked up and his eyes glittered in happiness. "Lara!" Rose squiggled out of his arms and ran toward her.

"Mummy!"

Lara leaned down and picked Rose up as Nigel stood and walked over to her. Raziel had moved back and was watching them both. Nigel kissed her on the lips in greeting and she noticed out of the corner of her eye that Raziel's eyes had began to flare white in anger. She could see the pupil beginning to fade and the gold shrinking, being replaced by that all-encompassing white that she had grown used to during her trip to Nosogth.

'Oh bugger . . .'

"It's a pleasure to see you again," Nigel commented, completely oblivious to the growing hostile air around the other male in the room. "I was afraid you were avoiding me. You didn't return my call yesterday."

"I'm terribly sorry, Nigel. I wasn't even aware you called. I have been quite preoccupied."

"What could make you so preoccupied as to forget me?" His expression was mock sadness and hurt, being really more amused than anything.

Lara sighed. "An old friend dropped in with some problems and I've promised to help him."

Nigel turned to glance at Raziel and in surprise didn't turn away. He took in the strong, sharp angles of his face, the dark hair, and the golden eyes (which the white had thankfully bled out of, Lara noted), and Nigel's eyes narrowed in jealousy. She had spent the entire day with a man who looked like this? He breathed in deeply and released it.

'It doesn't matter,' he assured himself mentally. 'He looks far too much of a pretty boy to keep up with her, and that'd be the only way she'd involve herself with him over me. And he certainly doesn't seem like the type to be left at home with the children like I am. God only knows Lara isn't going to become my wife out of love.' He glanced back at her. 'I don't think there's anyone alive who she can safely love and share her full life with. So she'll have to settle with one part.'

Nigel smiled brilliantly at her again, sheer melt-in-your-mouth. He reminded her much of a saint in his behavior, but there was always something there that hinted he was thinking more dark thoughts.

"If you can tear yourself away from your friend, I planned a lovely little picnic for three." He poked Rose on the nose and she giggled as she grabbed his finger. Lara smiled sadly.

"As much as I would like to, I'll have to take a rain check. I have several things still to do today, and you," she looked pointedly at Rose, "have to go to bed now. You've been up all night and all this morning."

"But Mummy, I don wanna—" She interrupted herself by yawning. Raziel stepped forward and held his claws out for her.

"May I?"

Nigel watched as Lara handed a sleepily blinking Rose to Raziel. Rose rubbed her eyes, then wrapped her arms about his neck and snuggled against him as he headed out toward the stairs. Nigel's eyebrows knit together in concern. Rose rarely took to people like that. She would usually antagonize them, but she wouldn't allow them to pick her up. He suppressed another wave of jealousy. He turned back to Lara, silently wishing he could take her into his arms and kiss her, but he knew she didn't like to be held and wouldn't appreciate the gesture. There was no love between them, but he had developed an affection for her. He stood looking at her for a time.

"What are you helping your friend with?" he finally asked gently. "And, speaking of which, I never did catch his name."

"Raziel," the baritone voice rumbled from the doorway. Raziel walked toward them and Lara recognized the anger and rage barely contained in each step. She recalled her analogy between him and a violent thunderstorm, and decided it was quite apt.

"And you are?"

"Nigel Foxsworth," Nigel answered, absolutely ignorant of the doom baring down on him. Lara thought it time to intercede. She moved between Raziel and Nigel, facing the latter.

"I'm very sorry, Nigel, but I do have things to do and—"

"All right, all right," Nigel nodded, a smile on his face. "Say good-night to Rose for me."

"Of course."

Lara and Raziel watched him go, Lara with a nonchalantly blank, if worried, expression, Raziel with a murderous one. After he was gone, silence fell for a time until Raziel broke it.

"Why?" It was very short, very cut and to the point.

Lara shrugged slightly. "I want to go back out into the field, and Rose is too young for me to leave here alone. And I want someone who will look after her should anything happen to me. There's no love between us. It's just a mutually beneficial agreement."

"Why him?"

"Because I know he isn't trying to marry me for my money, and he likes Rose. And Rose loves him. That's what important, that the man be liked by Rose herself."

_'So why not me?'_ But he knew the answer without having to actually ask it. He was not of this world and could not stay here.

"Lara?" He took hold of her and pulled her against him, moving her face so he could look down at her.

"Lara . . ." He hesitated, seeming to be on the verge of telling her something very important to him.

The phone ringing interrupted him. Both looked, surprised, over to the appliance. She slid out of his arms and picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Lara!" It was Jials' voice. "For God's sake, get out here! There are . . . there's something coming out of the portal. I need— Oh heavens, they're here." There was the sound of movement, and Jials' voice, softer, as if away from the phone, shouting, "Get the weapons and get them fast!" Then the phone went dead. Lara hung it up, then looked at Raziel.

"We have to go check on Jials. Apparently something came through the portal. I wonder if it's these Hylden Kain spoke of." She blinked a moment, realizing they had been in the middle of something and turned her head toward Raziel.

"What was it you were going to say?"

"Nothing." He shook his head in negation. "Let's just go find out what's going on over there."

It took them a slightly longer than she'd like trip through the Spectral Realm, but it greatly cut down on the time in the real world, and for that, she was grateful. The buildings surrounding the Pillars seemed to take on darker shades as the sun sank below its horizon. They walked toward the doors and shoved them open. Several people came rushing toward her.

"Oh thank heavens!" one cried. "Lara Croft! There's a green-skinned monster out near the Pillars holding Jials hostage! We think he's going to kill him!"

"Wait a moment. What does this green-skinned monster look like?" Raziel asked calmly from behind her.

"Um, it's about so high," he held his hand up about a foot above Raziel's head, "dark green skin, weird, kinda pointy things coming off its chin, and the largest ears I have ever seen."

Raziel chuckled softly and walked past him, saying, "Come along, Lara. We needn't worry about Jials too much. I know who this is."

"And who is it?"

"An old . . . friend of mine."


	14. EEEEEK!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKK!!!!!!

Oh boy, DragonSeer is not going to go this long without answering to reviews again. *sigh* I've got A LOT of reviews to answer.

BUT FIRST: a big, warm THANK YOU to all you who've been reading this, even those of you who don't review. Although, you really should review. Hey, look at it this way: I talk to people who review to me! But if you want me to just shut up and get on with the story, then skip to the next chapter.

And I'll be nice and give one last comment. This story will have only a few more chapters and only one more response page. Then this story is going to be OVER. _HOWEVER_ there is going to be YET ANOTHER ONE. Yes, I know, probably too many, but for those of you who like humor, you're going to love this coming story. But that's enough hints. Onto reviews!

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SpitefulHope- I'm mean about cliffhangers, I know. And how did I manage to attract all the Kain fangirls in a story that's for the most part solidly Raziel? Well, this one is, anyway.

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Kain-is-my-Plushie- *waves bye-bye to Kain as he's dragged away* You'll probably see your name on here more than once. I have a lot of reviews to go. Check them for comments.

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Concept of a Demon- Next chapter SOON! Got it! *impish grin* Let me go to my magical desk, tap the paper once, and *WOOSH* there's the next chapter. And again, I must ask, how did I manage to attract the Kain fans in a story mostly about Raziel?

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Lunatic Pandora- Same question that I gave to Spiteful and Concept.

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VladimirsAngel- Yup, from Nosgoth to Earth, back to Nosgoth, back to Earth again. Seesh. I'm leaving the readers the job of keeping up with where everyone is. By the way, I'm absolutely ADORING your story about you switching places with Raziel in your dreams. I can't review because my computer is evil *considers torching it, but realizes it's the only computer I can use and it has my stories on it*, so I have to make my comment here. Love it! Absolutely!

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1 and **J.M.S.**- Back to Nosgoth, and to you, **JMS**- ? *confused blink*

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SVP- *shakes head* Getting beat upon by computer characters. Even I don't allow my story characters to do that. *glares at SR/TR cast, before promptly getting hit on the back of head by Sysilian* All right, I lied. And Zell can go find hotdogs somewhere else. Although, I'm sure I can work hotdogs into the next story!

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Bloodthirsty- …Wow. I never thought I'd see the day when there'd be a Moebius fan girl. I'm sufficiently scared now. The world is coming to an end. Amusing, though, by the way. You notice I used part of your idea for the strip poker part.

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Deedee- It's nice to know that I write the characters well enough to get people emotionally involved with them. Though it might have been embarrassing, I am very complimented by it. Thank you.

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Benson- The reference to the debt is explained, but if you need to understand, go read the last chapter of TR/SR: World's Collide, then read that chapter again. It'll make sense. As for why Raziel bowed to Kain, it was because it was a joke and part of the trick to weird of Lara.

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VladimirsAngel- Ah, I don't completely agree on your Robin Hood analogy, but hey, everyone's entitled to their opinions.

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Deionarra- Now, now, there are a lot of fans out there who'd like to visualize Kain, in either form, unclothed. Ah well, that's them. I take it you're a Raziel fan girl? Or someone else?

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Fiction Lord- I know he says funny things, but do I manage to make him pull it off as Kain-ish?

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1 and **Coldfang**- A: because I didn't know quite what to write yet and B: what are you going to do to make me? *sticks tongue out at Coldfang* Naahhhh!

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Lunatic Pandora- Well, Kain will eventually be making an appearance, and poor Jials is going to suffer for it. And that's all I'm going to say.

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Mark and **1**- Why are the Hylden here? You're not going to find out for a while. As for why Raziel asked 'We?' when Lara said they were going, it was because she was automatically assuming he would go where she was, and it seemed to him that she was comfortable with the fact. It was a pretty subtle thing.

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SVP- I did read your crossover, and I actually liked it. I like FF, but I'm not an absolute fanatic about it, so when people change characters or write them OOC, I don't mind. I thought it was quite cute, though I have to read up on it. It's been a while.

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Fiction Lord- I don't quite know what Jials knows about Raziel. He obviously knows something judging from his reaction when he was introduced to Raziel. I'm just not quite sure what he knows. I doubt it'll come up, but it might.

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VladimirsAngel- yeah, he is impressed with her. I'd have liked to go into their relationship, because had it not been Raziel she slept with, she might have slept with Kain. But alas, it was not to be. (Mainly because I'm already in the process of a Blood Omen 2/ Tomb Raider crossover.)

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Psycho_Virus83- Next chapter's here, yes, eventually there will be more crystals, and sure, go ahead and use the restoration crystals. They are in Tomb Raider 3, after all. I just made up how they'd affect Raziel.

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Kittie, **Coldfang**, and **Concept of a Demon**- By the way, you're now going to be called **Concept**. And YES, you all sense a Vorador. Read on . . .

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Deionarra and **1**- You people are not SUPPOSED to like Nigel. You're supposed to view him as Raziel does: a problem to be gotten rid of. He's supposed to be realtively annoying. Just look at him from Lara's point of view a moment, though. She can't have someone to keep up with her, so how about someone who will stay home with the kids and not mind? And he really isn't marrying her for her money, so he's good for her. She doesn't love him, but, hey, maybe marriages will stay together longer if you don't love the person, but respect and trust them. Wow, was that a rant.

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SVP- Poor Sephy.

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Kain-is-my-plushie- EEEEHHH!! *jumps back from caps* Okay, okay! I wrote more I wrote more!

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Syvia- Exactly. And wait till he sees Lara . . . *shakes head*

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Lunatic Pandora and **Lilith**- Yup, Vorador, and no, there will not be such a long break this time.

And on we go to the story . . .


	15. Molbius? Moebius is in Trouble!

By the by, Vorador is not mine, either. Nor do I want him. I'm too jealous to share any man of mine. Anyway. Rose and Jials, however, are mine.

Raziel strode through the building and pushed open the doors to the outside. Lara followed and moved around to see a baker's dozen of vampires. One held Jials up, who was wildly swinging a stake. Speaking to him was a very tall, dark-green skinned vampire.

"For the last time," the male vampire was explaining as if to a child, "we are not here to kill you all. We are looking for Lara Croft."

"Die, you infernal undead!" Jials was clearly scared out of his mind by the appearance of the vampires and was trying valiantly for a man who was being held up as easily as a doll to stake the vampire. The male vampire speaking to him sighed deeply.

"You didn't listen to a word I said, did you?"

"Can we kill him?" the vampire holding him up inquired. "I'm getting hungry."

The green-skinned vampire chuckled softly. "No feeding until we find this Lara Croft."

"Then seek no farther." Lara walked toward them. "I am she."

The male vampire's eyes widened in surprise and interest. She found herself looking up into yellow-golden cat slit eyes, and he did in fact have huge, almost cat-like ears that accented his face nicely. He took her hand and kissed it in a very gentlemanly manner, surprising Lara as this towering, three-clawed non-human ages old moved and spoke with the culture upbringing of the best aristocracy.

"I came to an unknown world expecting darkness and horrifying sights and meet almost immediately a strikingly bright and exotic flower," he murmured over her hand. Had Lara been a teenage, she would have blushed and giggled. The man was very smooth with his courtesy and was well practiced. Instead, she chuckled throatily.

"You should be careful, master vampire, as I have poison spines hidden within this soft interior."

"Oh!" He smiled broadly, his eyes almost glowing in pleasure. "I wouldn't even begin to underestimate one so beautiful as yourself. Kain speaks of you with fondness, and that's quite a compliment from him."

"Oh does he?" Her eyebrow raised, then she turned to the vampire holding Jials.

"Would you please put him down? I doubt he'll do anything now that I am here, and he's turning a rather nice shade of blue."

The vampire sighed, but set him down, saying, "One lost meal." Jials eyed him worriedly a moment, then moved behind Lara.

"Ah, behold, the ever-so-brave occultist," Lara smiled sardonically. Jials poked her back.

"Hey, getting picked up and being threatened to become a meal is enough to make anyone worry."

Lara glanced back at him. "When I was over there, I was threatened to be eaten at least twice— I don't honestly remember how many times Kain threatened to kill me. Everyone else just threatened to kill me."

"But you're you," Jials retorted. "You're used to that sort of thing. I'm not."

Raziel moved up to Lara and nodded respectfully to the elder vampire.

"Vorador."

The aforementioned vampire turned to him with a surprised expression. He looked him up and down before inquiring slowly, "Raziel?"

"It is I."

"Impressive. Time on this planet has been good for you. Perhaps you should consider staying here at least semi-permanently if not for good."

Raziel smirked, but shook his head. "No, my home is Nosgoth."

Vorador shrugged. "As you wish, but it I had access to such a beautiful flower . . ." He trailed off, eyes appraising of Lara. She felt Raziel stiffen in anger beside her. Raziel gave a dry laugh.

"Yes, we do all know your taste for women. A lot of them."

Vorador placed a clawed hand on his chest in mock surprise and hurt.

"I'm struck you would ever consider me that shallow and that I would do such a thing." He grinned, showing his fangs as his claw fell again and stated, "but I _am_ always open for new wives."

Before she could respond, he bowed deeply to both of them with that same taste of sarcastic air. "Behold, your entourage of vampires is at your command." He straightened. "I believe Kain said you had a Time Streamer infestation."

"That we do."

"Wonderful. Where did you last see him?"

Raziel gave him a quick description and Vorador nodded to the vampires. They pounced away, vanishing into the night almost instantly. Vorador stepped toward them both.

"My spies will be able to track him down once they see the last spot he was at that had a major event. In the meantime, may I inquire as to where we'll be putting up shop, so to speak?"

Lara and Raziel exchanged a look. After a moment, she sighed.

"Fine. For now I suppose I can allow you into my home."

"It isn't as if it's not large enough," Raziel shrugged, opening the fact. She nodded slightly, accepting the fact.

"Lara?" Jials asked suddenly from behind her. "Promise me something."

"I make no promises."

"Either way, will you eventually tell me the full story of what's going on here today? You told me about your trip already, so I know about that, but what has that to do with this?"

She turned to him. "Do you remember the Time Streamer I told you about?"

"Molbius?"

"Moebius," she corrected, but close enough. From behind her, Vorador snickered to himself.

"I believe I rather like the name Molbius."

Lara shook her head, but had to hide a smile. She kept her eyes on Jials and her face blank as she queried, "May we perhaps borrow a driver to take to my home?"

"Of course, of course," he nodded. "Any friend of Lara's . . . is . . ." he paused blinking at Vorador. "A very scary friend of mine," he finally finished.

"Thank you."

Jials headed into the building and Lara followed him. After a moment, both Nosgothians realized they were supposed to follow them. They trailed after Lara as she quickly made her way through the building, then walked out into the crisp night air again. It actually wasn't raining, and the sky was surprisingly free of clouds for this time of year, and the stars glowed down brightly. Raziel moved up next to her and Vorador watched the two of them.

'Ah,' he thought to himself. 'So this is why Kain asked me to watch them without specifying what he wanted me to look for.' He glanced at the human called Jials and saw in his eyes that he, too, saw what was going on between the two.

A sleek limousine came around the corner, and at Lara's expression, Jials shrugged, stating simply, "You should travel in style." Lara grimaced, but slid into it, Raziel after her. He had gotten used to the concept of 'automobiles' as they called them, though he was still slightly unnerved by them. Any vampire worth his salt had a teleportation spell at all times. Vorador, however, had never seen one of these streamlined hunks of moving metal before. At least, not anything to this design. He had seen the Sarafan's contraptions, so he was familiar with what it did. He ran his claws down the frame gently, studying the way the metal pieces fit together. After a moment of concentration, he slipped into the limo and curiously settled onto the cushioned seats, looking around with great interest. He was becoming intimately familiar with why Kain wanted to begin to use this world's technology. He met the gaze of Lara and began barraging her with questions about how and why it worked, and what functions it served. To his pleasure, Lara was a wellspring of information, and knew enough to give him a well-rounded answer on any question he asked. Raziel sat quietly next to her, absorbing the information, and looking between the two. He'd add his two cents at certain points, but mostly he watched Lara and how she carried herself. When he had met her, he hadn't thought she'd survive on Nosgoth for an instant. She was an outlander, and not familiar with the territory. But as he watched her, he realized she would have survived, and probably would have even thrived. Even here she sat, a human on Earth, and spoke quite easily and logically to a Nosgothic vampire centuries old, treating him no different than a colleague. He understood for the first time that she didn't really need him. It was seeming to be more and more that he needed her. And he wondered if he'd be able to leave this planet at all after this episode was done.

'No.' He hardened himself to his thinking. 'She _doesn't_ need me, and that's exactly why I don't need to stay. I am not weak, and I certainly do not need her. Fine.' She didn't need him, and he didn't need her.

The limousine came to a stop, and Lara realized they had come to her mansion. She slid out when the door was opened by the driver, nodding a thanks to him. She moved forward as Vorador climbed out, followed by Raziel. Vorador looked up at her house, nodded appreciatively. She waved an invitation toward the house.

"Welcome to my home. I will warn you now, though, watch out. Otherwise you will get a ball thrown at you."

"A ball?" he repeated in amusement. Lara simply opened the door to the shout of "Mummy!"


	16. Lust and Adventures

Rose raced into her mother's arms, then turned and stared up at Vorador. Vorador in turn stared down in bemusement at her. After a moment, her face expanded into a happy, pleased expression and ran toward him to climb into his arms. Seeing the little thing coming toward him, Vorador caught her by the back hem of her shirt, holding her by his thumb and foreclaw. He held her away from his body as if she were a disgusting bug and handed her back to Lara.

"Take this, if you would be so kind."

Raziel raised an eyebrow and suppressed a dark chuckle, saying instead, "Multiple wives, but no desire for children?"

"I did not become a vampire to be a father, Raziel. And fledglings often act enough like children to remind me why I do not wish to ever have living children."

Lara took a hold of Rose, then turned her toward the door. "Why don't you find out what Bryce is doing?"

"Pet nerd!" Rose ran out into the house as Lara turned back to Vorador and Raziel.

"That problem's solved. Now, I suppose we'll need to prepare for the coming battle, won't we?" Lara asked. Raziel nodded. During the conversation, Lara led them into the house and then into the reclining room, indicating the chairs for them to sit in.

"By this point Moebius has set himself up in a nice little fortress and has all sorts of nasty surprises waiting for us. He knows we need the blade and we'll jump over any hurdle he puts in our way."

"It's also very likely he will have Hylden acting as guards and scouts," Vorador added.

A sudden scream and a large crash sounded from further in the house. Raziel smirked and Vorador's head snapped up to angel itself toward the direction the sound came from, his eyebrows knitting together in concern. Lara made a soothing, negation gesture.

"Do not trouble yourself with it. It's only Rose destroying whatever Bryce was doing."

Vorador leaned forward, interested. "That sounded like a loss of life crash. Aren't you concerned?"

"No." She shook her head. "Rose would never hurt him. She just loves to antagonize him. She has much the same touch for technology that I do."

"Who, may I inquire, is this Bryce?"

"Bryce is my technological genius, though I would never refer to him as such when he's within hearing range. He's naïve and very sheltered, but he has one of the strongest grasps on technology and its workings I have ever seen. Once you know and are a bit more comfortable with the technical terms, I'd suggest asking him. He'll give you an earful of jumble, but once you sort it out, it usually contains the answer to your questions."

The door opened and Rose came in, looking sad. Lara looked down at her a moment before picking her up.

"Pet nerd kicked me ou', Mummy."

"What'd you break?"

"Dunno." She shrugged. "Something he called a 'vir'ual relty' 'quipment, or something."

Lara sighed, but hid a smile. Rose had destroyed Bryce's virtual reality toys? That was going to be expensive to replace, but it was worth it watching him bemoan his loss of his VR. Lara glanced down to rub Rose's head when she noticed Rose climbing off her lap and running over toward Vorador again. Expecting this, Vorador leaned slightly down, placed the palm of his clawed hand against her forehead, and held her there. She struggled against his hand to try and climb up into his lap a good ten, twenty minutes before finally tiring herself out and sullenly going and climbing into Raziel's lap where she fell asleep.

Raziel and Vorador began a discussion on how best to handle the coming fight, which after a few hours drifted into stories of old, and grievances they had with people on Nosgoth. The name of 'Malek' was mentioned many a time during it, but Lara managed only to scrap together the fact he was a man of some sort that Vorador hated with a fiery passion.

Lara watched them, left out of the conversation as a whole, but it was something she didn't mind. She watched the vampire and Soul Reaver talk, noted the changes in expression, the motions of the hands. Unlike Kain, Vorador and Raziel spoke much through their expressions, something Kain rarely did and something she had taught herself not to do. But her eyes stayed on Raziel and she found herself realizing that was part of what drew her to him. He was powerful, strong, and quite capable of taking care of himself in any situation. And yet he still showed what he thought like a beacon, and Lara felt that it had been thousands of years since she had met anyone who did that. She became aware of the fact that Nigel knew she didn't like to be touched, and respected it. He didn't try to, even if he wanted to. Raziel was capable of pulling her into his arms and not forcing her to be there, or making her want to be there. He just allowed her to realize she _wanted_ to be there. She shook her head. She didn't need to do this to herself. He didn't need her, nor did he _want_ her to be there. She could live with that. She just knew she was very much going to miss him when he left, possibly even for the rest of her life.

She snorted mentally and shook her head to get rid of the thought. 'I'm beginning to sound like someone out of a soap opera,' she thought disgustedly. 'So he doesn't need you. So he's going to go. Life's like that. It's time to move on. After all, you do have Nigel . . .'

But a distaste so profound welled up in her, she felt she might almost be physically sick. And it finally dawned on her that she really did want Raziel and would only want him. There was really going to be no one else who she could ever be closed to. And she knew with that admission that she had signed the contract to a lonely, single life.

Raziel suddenly glanced at her, and she was captured by his gaze. Neither moved, studying the other's eyes and wondering why they felt this attraction for one another. A low cough drew their attention away from each other and made them aware of the fact that Vorador was still in the room.

There was a sudden knock at the door and Hillary stepped in.

"Miss Croft?" As she looked up, he brought in a little cup of tea and a kettle for her and set it down on the little foot table next to her. He glanced at the other two men in the room.

"I remembered that Lord Raziel did not require any tea, but I seemed to have neglected to inquire as to whether you would like any, Mr. . ."

"Vorador," the master vampire responded. "And, no thank you. I have about the same taste for tea that Raziel does."

"Very good, sir." Hillary nodded politely to them, then backed out of the room. Lara poured herself a cup of tea and sat back in her chair with a sigh, breathing in the warmth the rose to her. She took a small sip before a sudden tapping at the window drew her attention away from it. Vorador stood and flipped the window open easily and a shadow snaked in with the grace of a cat. It came to rest near his feet in a crouch and Lara identified it as the male vampire that had been holding Jials up earlier.

"My Lord, we have found him."

"Speak. Where as he hidden himself away?"

"To the west of here in a large mansion he has sheltered himself away. The place is crawling from top to bottom in Hylden and traps. A few of the others are keeping an eye on it. We couldn't even get in. Had we tried, we would have set off an alarm, so we do not know where in the house the Reaver is."

Vorador nodded acceptance. He looked to Raziel and Lara.

"If we're going to go, we have to do it now before he becomes aware to my presence here."

"Fine." Lara glanced at a clock. "Give me one hour to get together all the weapons all need."

The next hour burned past as vampires darted in and out of the house, preparing themselves to work as back up and Lara and Raziel threw the things they needed into duffel bags. Guns, extra ammunition, and a few higher-powered explosives were thrown into the bag. Unbeknownst to Raziel and Lara, when they were turned away doing something else, a small ball rolled into the bag. A second later, a little four-year-old girl climbed in after it. Raziel turned around and zipped up the bag, picked it up, and set it in the car they were going to be taking. Lara packed away her guns, then slipped her backpack on her back again. She glanced at Raziel and he nodded. It was time to get going.

The car rumbled into life and the driver eased it out of her driveway and down the way. The trip was extremely silent, and when they got closer to their goal, the car's headlights went out. Out of the mist rose a huge building that even Lara would hesitate to call a mansion. The windows were all sealed shut except for a few and the ones that were open had light pouring out of them. The car pulled over to the edge and was shut off, allowing the all-encompassing silence to sneak in. Then, with no word spoken among any of them, they all piled out of the car and made their way slowly toward the mansion. There were a few Hylden guards walking around, obviously on patrol, but the vampires traveling with them made short work of them. They made their way cautiously to the front door. A short way back from it, Vorador touched both Raziel's and Lara's shoulder.

"You two seem to be the 'front-door' type, so I'm going to let you handle that. Moebius has probably put more guards on the back and side doors, as that's usually the way anyone goes. I'll take my scouts around the back ways and meet up with you. We'll see who finds the Reaver, and coincidentally Moebius, first."

He teleported away, presumably toward the other side of the house, and the vampires vanished into the night as if mentally called. Raziel grabbed the duffel bags and set one down near the door, then slung the other one over his back. Raziel and Lara exchanged a single look and smiled. Then she moved forward and kissed him passionately. _This_ was what she had missed; the lure of adventure and the thrill of desire. Both turned back to the house and moved to the door. Raziel touched her cheek gently once, then kicked the door in, causing it to fly back about ten yards, having ripped out its own hinges. Raziel stepped in, Reaver extended and ready, Lara next to him, pistols cocked.


	17. Roses and Time Streamers

Hylden poured out of the hallways, racing toward them. Lara had expected as much, so she had changed her normal ammunition for much more potent stuff. The pistols had louder than usual explosions, but the Hylden were left with gaping holes as the bullets smashed in and erupted through their skin out. Raziel dove immediately into the fray, the Reaver eagerly biting into their flesh, drawing their souls out to sustain itself. Scores of Hylden fell under his blows, and suddenly, they were gone. Raziel looked around warily. They had realized a frontal assault was not working, so they were probably planning something. But what exactly?

Lara glanced out the front door to see if they were trying to sneak around, but she didn't see or hear anything. She glanced at Raziel and shrugged, indicating there was nothing there.

A sudden rumbling turned both their attentions down the hall. They cautiously walked down the entrance and came to a huge room of some kind or another. In it were two doors; one near them and human sized, and the other a huge pair of steel double doors. The steel doors had a metal bar across the front, and the rumbling sound was coming from behind it. Raziel could faintly hear the sounds of battle at the back and sides of the house, which he took to be the other vampires infiltrating the place.

The rumbling abruptly stopped and was silent for a moment, then was broken by a loud roar. There was an explosion on the other side of the double doors as something big and very unhappy slammed against them. Both Lara and Raziel could see the metal of the door bend. The creature slammed against it again, and the sound was accompanied by the click of Lara's pistols cocking. Raziel slid into a ready stance. A third and final pounding sounded and the doors flew forward, the metal bar holding the two bent irreparably. Behind it was a huge . . . monstrosity. It stood on its hind legs, which were thin and shouldn't have supported its weight. It had leathery purple skin with a gray underbelly. The muscle structure of the arms was relatively humanoid, excepting that this thing had a three-clawed hand. Off its head came a pair of horns and its overly large mouth was filled with sharp teeth. It growled once its eyes came to rest on the two, and it began to stride toward them. A soft chuckling filled the air.

"How do you like my new pet?" a familiar voice inquired. Lara risked a glance to see Moebius standing in the door, watching the thing come toward the two. "It's a demon, one you're not familiar with, Raziel. Kain knows this thing quite intimately, however." He stepped back, slammed the door shut and they both heard a click as it was lock, then dead bolted. They could open it, but it would take precious time they didn't have.

The demon growled again, then raced toward them, heedlessly smashing furniture which crumpled under it. Lara felt her fingers squeeze both triggers simultaneously and watched in abject horror as the bullets slammed into the hide and dropped off, crushed beyond recognition. Lara darted to the side as Raziel raced toward it, slipping under its claws and feeling the Reaver bite into it. The demon roared and smacked him away with a backward motion of its arm, hissing as it did so. Lara's eyes narrowed as the thing's flesh began to heal almost at once, much faster than even Kain's did. It rounded on Raziel, and Lara cautiously tried another round. Again, the bullets faired no better than the last, especially against its back. The demon rounded on here and raced toward her faster than she would have expected, red energy collecting around its claws.

A shape flashed through and grabbed the demon's arm. Both the demon and Lara looked over to see it was the male vampire that had spoken with Vorador earlier that night. The demon slapped him away with his other claw and there was a sick cracking sound as he hit the wall. Raziel swung in behind it and dug the Reaver into its back. It roared and spun on him, nearly hitting Lara with its claws as it turned. Lara pulled her bag around with the intention of grabbing the MP5, but was rudely interrupted as the demon twisted toward her, that same energy crackling across its claws. Lara back flipped back, knowing she wouldn't escape those claws, and at the same moment, Raziel moved to where she had been, taking the blow for her. His body broke immediately into mist particles as the sheer power of the blow sent him reeling back into the Spectral Realm. He swore in anger that Lara had nearly been killed, quickly swallowed a few stray souls and shifted back to the normal realm. Lara could see him out of the corner of her eye and she kept away from the beast, and she noticed some distinct differences about him. His eyes had gone completely that streaming white and his skin had developed a blue tint to it. If she guessed correctly, it would seem the angrier Raziel became, the more of his blue-skinned Nosgothian self he assumed. He lunged toward the demon again as Lara finally pulled out the MP5. A continuous thunder sounded as she pulled the trigger, braced against its massive kickback. The demon hissed as little rivets were carved out of its hide. When the clip was empty, she quickly ripped it out and went to place another one in when a shivering magical sound came from behind her. A pair of three clawed hands took hold of her, then the world shifted as energy swirled around them and they appeared on the balcony of the same room. Vorador stepped to the railing and looked down at the battle.

"Raziel!" he shouted. "Get away from it!"

Despite being furious with himself and the demon, he pulled back and watched out of the corner of his eye as Vorador threw something down at the demon. The little piece of metal embedded itself in the demon's leathery skin. Raziel continued to back away from its slashes.

"And that was supposed to do what?" he demanded. Suddenly, magic erupted from the metal and the beast's skin peeled back, almost as if it was being eaten away by acid. The muscles underneath shrank away and melted, the bones collapsing into a heap before dissolving completely. Vorador teleported Lara and himself back to the first floor.

"I love that item," he sighed, pleased.

Raziel touched Lara's shoulder gently, assuring himself she was all right. After her safety was secured, he headed toward the door that Moebius had vanished into. He grabbed the knob and twisted experimentally. As expected, it was locked. He glared at it a moment before jamming his claws on either side of the locking mechanism. He quickly ripped it out, then pulled the deadbolt out after it and swung the door open. Lara looked at it a moment, blinking.

"I'd make a comment teasingly about your lack of delicacy, but I realize if I had the strength, I would have done the same thing."

Vorador looked down at her. "Then why don't you think about becoming a vampire, Lara?"

Lara blinked, then looked up at him. "No, thank you. I like being human."

She walked up to Raziel, then moved past him into the room beyond. All that was in it was a staircase, one going up, the other down. She looked to Raziel.

"Up or down?"

"Down," he responded.

"I will take the upstairs, then," Vorador stated. "If you run into another demon . . ." He looked at Lara a moment. "Scream."

Lara grimaced, but nodded, then turned to Raziel. Raziel started down the stairs, Lara behind him. They went down four flights, then came out into another large room. The doors slammed shut around them, the sound of clicking obvious as they locked. Lara looked close at one to see they were of a metal she'd never seen before and bore similar runes to the gate that had blocked Moebius' mountain retreat. Raziel snarled as he saw them. Lara glanced around the room. There was a shelf that looked like it would hold books, but it was empty now, and a single statue of a human woman in mid-pirouette. There was also a fireplace and two chairs. Nothing else. Raziel growled as he stalked around the room, testing the walls and doors for any weakness. Lara's eyes narrowed in thought and concern as she walked toward one of the corners. Raziel punched the door with his full strength, feeling the metal bend but no shiver of the structure giving way. There was a sudden click and the door slid open. He looked up to see Lara walking toward him, a mischievous little smile on her face. He felt a similar grin slip onto his face.

"All right, how'd you do it?" he inquired, expecting the answer he was going to get.

"Not telling," she responded. Impulsively, he grabbed her and kissed her thoroughly before moving on to the next room. There were a few Hylden there and beyond them on a pedestal was Earth's Reaver. Moebius walked around a shelf and moved to the Reaver, smiling all the while. The Hylden readied their weapons, but didn't attack.

"So, it seems the two of you made it this far. I suppose I'm not entirely surprised. I had hoped the demon would prove a bit more . . . troublesome, however."

Raziel stepped forward, snarling, and the Hylden moved closer.

"Give us the Reaver, Moebius."

"Oh, I rather think I won't," he responded with a smile, his eyelids lowering. "My Master has promised me my position back should I bring this safely to Him, and, how would the Americans say it?, kudos go to he who brings either of you two back. Dead preferably, but He's developed quite an interest in you, Raziel."

With a growl of outrage, Raziel spun into the guard of one of the Hylden, the Reaver neatly separating his head from his body. The others, now on watch, would not fall to such a trick, but Lara's MP5 taught them to be wary of long-range weapons as well. The two quickly cut the Hylden down, then turned to see Moebius standing in front of Earth's Reaver. He glanced down at the Hylden bodies.

"Pity."

Suddenly, a very familiar snake staff appeared in his hand. The globe flared and Raziel's Reaver slipped back into the Spectral Realm.

"You fools," Moebius hissed. "Did you truly think I'm going to let you get away with your lives?!" He moved the his arms behind him, the staff's globe pointing down toward the ground in his passion.

"Did you think you'd get away with the Reaver? My Master would never allow you to have it! He will keep it for himself."

Raziel stepped toward him menacingly, but Moebius smirked and shook his head. Vorador appeared in the room, and Moebius' eyes took him in quickly.

"No you don't, _vampires_." He moved to bring the staff around again, then found a minor problem as the staff wouldn't budge. From behind him he heard, "Ball!" He twisted and spotted a small little girl hanging onto the globe of his staff happily. Moebius growled, "Get off of there, you little wretch," as he swung the staff around. The globe came off the staff and with Rose still attached to it, it smashed into the wall. Rose started crying, releasing her grip on the ball. Moebius turned back to find a blue-skinned Soul Reaver with his Wraith Blade pointed at him and looking down the barrel of a pistol, fury in both parents' eyes. Lara lashed out and pistol-whipped the Time Streamer, sending him falling back over the pedestal. Raziel was on him in an instant, claws gashing through the Time Streamer's quite human skin. Lara moved in behind him and kicked out, landing a blow on the back of his head, sending him reeling. Raziel moved and watched Moebius slam into the hard wood of the shelves. Bleeding profusely, the Time Streamer looked around for a place of safety to retreat to. Raziel slid in behind him, grabbed either side of his head and twisted viscously, enjoying the wet snap as Moebius' neck snapped. The body slumped forward and Raziel turned, looking for Rose worriedly. Both parents spotted her with Vorador. The vampire was obviously warming up to her, as Rose was curled in a whimpering ball in the crook of his arm, though Vorador was still trying to keep her away from his body as much as possible. Lara gratefully took her, holding her tightly and murmuring nonsensical noises down to her. Raziel stood against Rose's other side, sheltering her away from the sights and sounds of the room. Rose grabbed Raziel's shirt and cried into his chest. With Rose attached to Raziel, Lara gently picked up the Reaver and walked toward him.

"Go ahead and go home," Vorador told them. "I'll clean up here."

Lara nodded and Raziel walked out next to her. As the headed out the main hall, Raziel put his arm across Lara's shoulders and she leaned her head against him as they headed home.

This is NOT THE END!


	18. Nigel's Temper Problem

Lara took the driver's seat as they climbed in the car, Raziel next to her with Rose still hanging onto him. She started the car in silence and drove back toward her mansion. She glanced down at Rose who was still sniffling, but no longer crying. She ran a finger down Rose's cheek gently.

"We should have taken longer in killing him," Lara stated.

"I agree," Raziel responded, "but if we had given him too much time, he might have found a way to escape and then who knows what hell he would have caused. A quick death was probably the one thing he was not expecting."

Lara's mansion rose out of the mists before them and she pulled the car into the garage. She stepped out and moved to the back of the car the grab one of the duffel bags they had placed back in there. Raziel appeared next to her to help her.

"How did Rose get there with us, anyway?" he inquired. As he picked up one of the bags, a little ball came rolling out of the bag.

"Ball!" Looking much happier, Rose squiggled out of Raziel's arm and picked up her ball. Lara just shook her head and sighed while Raziel smiled down at her. They headed into the house and Lara hid a yawn behind the back of her hand. It was definitely time to go to bed. It had been a long day. She glanced at the clock and saw it read four o'clock in the morning. She turned to her daughter.

"It's time for you to go to bed, Rose."

"All right, Mummy." The little girl climbed the stairs and headed to her room. Lara turned back to Raziel only to be scooped up in an embrace and her lips captured by his. She pressed up against him, too tired and far past caring about what Nigel or the British aristocracy would think. This was what she wanted, and anything else be damned.

He pulled away slightly, breaking the kiss, but refused to release her. He kissed her cheek gently, shaking his head. He sighed.

"Lara, you have no idea how much I have missed this."

"Yes," she responded breathlessly. "Yes, I do know. I understand the feeling completely."

"Do you?"

In answer, she drew his head down and kissed him again. He tugged off the gloves he wore and she felt his claws slip up under her shirt to caress her skin. Passion raced across her body and she gripped the hem of his shirt and pulled it up over his head.

The door opened suddenly as Bryce came in, blinking sleepily, a mug in one hand. Apparently he had come in for coffee. There was a long moment of silence as Bryce stared at his employer who was pressed tightly against the man who had destroyed Simon. After a moment, he turned away, flinging the mug over his head mumbling something like, "Forget the coffee." Lara felt a giggle rising and viciously suppressed it. She took Raziel by the claw and led him up the stairs to her room where she shut the door so no one else could interrupt. He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her toward the bed, kissing her continuously. She grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it off before pressing up against him again, responding to the kisses. Raziel's claws slid up her body and around her back where they found the clip of her bra. After a moment, he snarled in annoyance. She pulled back as he growled, "I never could get that thing." She chuckled, reached back, and pulled the clip apart. She stepped forward into his arms again as he passionately fixed his lips to hers. Not caring about consequences, nor even about tomorrow, she willingly fell into his arms again.

Sunlight lit the back of her eyelids as Lara slowly slid her eyes open. She was on her side, curled tightly against Raziel's body, her head using his chest as a pillow. His right arm curled underneath her and the claws rested lightly on her shoulder. She glanced over at his left arm and saw, nestled in the crook of it, was Rose, asleep. She felt Raziel move and looked up to see he was smiling down at Rose. She snuggled her head down against his chest again and felt his arm tighten around her. She wished the moment would never end.

Eventually, it did end, in the form of Hillary knocking politely on her door.

"Lady Croft?"

Lara sat up with a quiet groan and Rose shifted in Raziel's arms, slowly awakening. She slid out of bed and almost didn't bother to grab a robe, then thought better of it with her child and lover in the room. She flipped on a white bathrobe and answered the door. Hillary stood there, and behind him, Nigel.

'Bugger.'

"Lady Croft, Lord Nigel is here to see you."

"Good morning, Lara," Nigel began in a cheerful tone. "I didn't expect you of ever being the one to sleep in. It's after eleven."

In a normal situation, Lara would not have worried about where everyone was. However, she could hear Raziel moving in the back of the room and walking toward the door to see what was keeping Lara's interest. Lara mentally swore. She knew Raziel was going to be leaving soon, and she still wanted to get out of the house, so having Nigel marry her was still a viable option. She didn't think it would be so for much longer should he see Raziel in her room not wearing anything.

"If you'll excuse me, Nigel, but I'll get freshened up and be out in a minute." She gently, but firmly, shut the door and turned to Raziel. He blinked curiously at the door.

"Nigel," Lara said by way of explanation. Raziel's eyes narrowed in anger and he growled low in his throat. She touched his shoulder.

"Nigel has a bit of a temper problem, so play nicely," she warned.

"Why should I?" he demanded.

Lara, realizing that there were very few answers she could give that would keep him from beating on Nigel, decided it was necessary to use a low blow, though she didn't like the prospect.

"Because he's going to be here after you're gone."

The response wasn't quite what she expected. She found herself caught by the waist and pulled into Raziel's embrace, his eyes looking down into hers intently.

"And do you want me to stay, Lara?" he inquired softly. Lara hesitated, then opened her mouth to respond.

"Mummy?" a voice asked sleepily from the bed, cutting off what Lara would have said. Rose sat up and rubbed her eyes. Lara slipped out of Raziel's embrace and picked her up.

"Why'd you crawl into bed with me, little one?" she asked gently.

"Bad dream," Rose said by way of explanation and locked her arms around Lara's neck. "The evil old man came after me."

Lara shushed her, holding her tightly. "Don't worry. He isn't ever going to come back and get you, all right?"

Rose nodded, then attached herself onto Raziel instead. Lara shook her head slightly. Rose wasn't this grabby even around Nigel. She turned away and quickly got dressed, regressing back to the typical Tomb Raider outfit. As soon as she was done, Raziel plopped Rose in her arms and got dressed himself. He nodded once toward the door.

"Since you don't seem to want to let him know about our relationship, if you'll open the door, I'll shift to the Spectral Realm and meet you out there."

She opened the door and watched as Raziel moved his arms and slipped out of the normal realm. She was glad that problem was solved, but she couldn't get rid of the hard feeling in her gut. She wondered what Raziel was privately thinking of doing to Nigel, then decided for her own sanity reasons, she probably didn't want to know.

Nigel met her in the hallway and embraced her in greeting. She nodded and smiled, but she knew the smile was paper-thin. To go from Raziel to Nigel . . . That was a jump she wasn't sure she could make.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Raziel appear in the doorway and come in, Rose still attached to him. She hadn't realized he had been holding Rose when he shifted, and Rose now had a big-eyed, awed look. She blinked around her as if everything was new and exciting. Then her eyes found Nigel and she smiled happily.

"Nigel!" She squiggled out of Raziel's arm and ran over to give him a hug. Then she quickly ran back to Raziel and climbed into his arms again.

"Lara?" a voice called from another room. Lara recognized the voice of Bryce as he continued, "may I have your help here for a minute? I want your opinion."

Lara sighed. "Coming." She looked at Rose. "Do you want to go annoy pet nerd?"

"YAY!" ^-^ Rose raced over to her and Lara picked her up. Both walked out of the room and silence fell for a long moment in which Nigel stared off where she had left and Raziel studied him as a cat would a mouse. At last, Nigel sighed.

"I don't care what your relationship is with Lara."

This caught Raziel off-guard. He hadn't been expecting the man he was thinking about obliterating to actually start talking to him in such an off-hand manner about Lara.

"I really don't," he continued. "I'm not going to marry her because I love her. I feel affectionate toward her, but God knows there's no love between us. I'm not marrying her for her money, either. The only thing I'm marrying her for is Rose." He looked up at Raziel, meeting his gaze.

"So go ahead and share her bed. Just don't take Rose away from me."

Raziel's voice rumbled with mock amusement and barely-withheld anger. "So you're marrying her because of her child? Doesn't that seem a mite shallow to you?"

Nigel's eyes narrowed in anger. "It may in any other situation, but Lara is one of a kind. I am willing to stay home and watch that child when she's off risking her life in whatever strikes her fancy at the time."

"And why not let her marry someone whom can keep up with her and go with her on her journeys."

"Like you?" Nigel almost laughed until he saw Raziel's serious expression. At that point, he did laugh. "You're far too much of a pretty-boy to even possibly come close to her. And besides, let's face it; you reek with the scent of a man who'll steal another man's wife at any moment it suits you."

Raziel's eyes narrowed and he suppressed the urge for his eyes to turn white. This little, pathetic dribbling man he could barely stand, but insulting him was definitely _out_ of the question. A small growl trickled through his throat.

"Ah, and now the serpent rears his head," Nigel stated, grimacing in distaste. "I suppose Lara only would like a man like an animal in her bed. Very infectious habits, it seems. Perhaps I'll see if I can teach her otherwise."

"It's nice to know you think that way," a female voice interjected from near the doorway. Both men glanced over to see Lara with one arm around Rose, the other down, a pistol naked in it. "I assume that comfortably negates you from ever joining my bed. Perhaps I should just rid you of my . . . _infectious habits_."

Nigel knew from the subtle body motions that Lara was angry, and that pistol was a serious threat when she was this aggravated.

"Lara," he began. The click of the hammer being pulled back made him gulp. "Lara, think of Rose. This marriage was about Rose from the beginning. Why don't you let her choose?"

Lara narrowed her eyes, but nodded. She kneeled and set Rose down on the ground, looking at her.

"Rose, tell me something."

"Yes, Mummy?"

"If you had to pick which one of these men you'd want to live with you, which would you choose?"

Rose's eyes trailed away as she thought, looking at the two men. With a normal child, Lara wouldn't have thought for a moment of doing this, but for all of Rose's four years of life, she sometimes showed a frighteningly capable and comprehensive (and vicious) mind. After a moment, Rose grinned and raced over to Raziel and hugged him. Nigel stuttered a moment in confusion while Raziel picked her up.

"Why, Rose?" Nigel finally asked.

"Cause he's my Daddy," Rose answered, hugging Raziel. Nigel blinked a few times, then looked at Lara for confirmation. She merely nodded, accepting the fact. Nigel splutter in incomprehension for a long space of moments, then his mind went into shutdown. When a mind becomes too filled, it falls back on instinctual impulses, and in most men's minds, it's to lash out. Nigel in a swift movement punched Raziel. A long moment of silence fell in the room before Lara quickly took Rose out of Raziel's arms and moved back. Raziel cracked his knuckles and chuckled darkly.

"My turn."

Raziel's retributive strike sent Nigel back, smashing into the gun cabinet behind him, and fell to the ground, glass shattering around him. He groaned, then stood up and pulled a pistol around from where he had picked it up. His shot surprised Lara, and it took Raziel in the head. Raziel's body dissolved into mist particles and Nigel looked around, angry and now scared. He looked at Lara a moment as if to silently say, "What have I done?" Then he took a step toward her, apparently to try to take Rose.

From behind him, he heard a voice say, "That hurt, you know." He turned fearfully to see a blue-skinned, white-eyed Raziel. Raziel pointed at him, and the Reaver suddenly swirled into life and extended down his arm toward Nigel menacingly.

"Play nicely," Lara reminded him. Raziel paused, head cocked slightly to the side, then Reaver bolted Nigel, sending falling back. He shot another bolt at him, causing Nigel to go through the window and land on the grass outside. Sufficiently scared out of his mind, Nigel got up and started running toward his car. Raziel fired one more bolt, this one at his heels to keep him going. They watched as he got into his car and started driving away.

"Pity," Raziel sighed, wishing he could have done more. Suddenly, something hard smacked him in the head and rebounded into Lara's hands.

"Ow!" Raziel glared down at the object and started at what it was. It was a grenade. He looked down at Rose who smiled widely back up at him.

"Ball!"

Lara grinned, pulled out the pin, and handed it to Raziel. Throwing his supernatural strength into it, he tossed it and watched it land on the ground in front of Nigel's car. The car passed over it, and then it exploded, causing the car to go spinning. After a time, he got it under control and sent it streaking away. Raziel picked up Rose and hugged her.


	19. Goodbyes and Propostions

He poked her nose carefully and asked, "How'd you know I was your Daddy?"

Rose dropped out of his arms and raced upstairs, then came back down. She was holding a black book entitled, Dark Chronicle.

"Ah, I forgot about that," Lara stated. "I had stuffed it in my backpack and never gave it back to you, quite by accident. When Rose was born, I let her read it."

"I had been wondering where that was," he mumbled and pulled the book out of Rose's clutches. Rose, seeing her book going away, started to tear up. Raziel's eyes widened and he hurriedly gave her it back. She smiled, but still looked sad, and the tears threatened to start sneaking down her cheek. Raziel glanced around looking for something, panicked.

"Um . . ." He quickly darted over to the corner, picked something up, and then handed it to Rose. It was one of her balls, which she took looking a bit more happier, but still somewhat sad.

"Fine," Raziel sighed. He picked her up. She immediately brightened up and hugged him, book in one hand, ball in the other. Lara, who had been watching this whole affair, could no longer restrain from laughing.

"The ever-so mighty Soul Reaver, running around at the whims of a child."

Raziel glared at her. "I'd like to see you resist that face." Lara merely chuckled.

"I've been living what that face for four years, Raziel. Unlike you, I have developed a resistance to it." She blinked at her daughter a long moment. "I believe she's also going to have a case of 'Daddy's little girl' syndrome."

"What is that?"

Rose leaned back, dropped the ball, and grabbed hold of one of Raziel's wings and started nibbling on it. Raziel turned on her with a slight growl.

"Stop that," he said sternly. Rose looked up at him, tears forming in her eyes. Raziel felt like he'd been punched.

"No, no, no," he cooed over her. "Don't cry. Go ahead." He looked up to see Lara looking at him exasperatedly.

"That's what I was talking about," she commented blandly.

"What?"

She shook her head and sighed. "Never mind."

"Mummy! Look what I can do!"

Lara looked closer as Rose extended one of her clawed hands and watched the claws split and change into five-fingered human hands. Lara blinked, surprised, and Raziel leaned around Rose and stared at her hand.

"Do that again."

^-^ Pleased she had both parents' attentions, she grinned widely and melded her fingers back into claws again.

"Now if we can teach you to hide your fangs a bit better, you'll be able to go to school," Lara stated.

"School?"

Lara drew close to Rose and kissed her on the forehead, then looked up at Raziel. One of his claws sneaked around her waist and pulled her close to him, squishing Rose, who voiced irritated noises but was promptly ignored. Raziel kissed Lara, and had Rose not been in the way, they would have embraced and held the other tightly. Rose, on the other hand, was not particularly happy with being crushed between two bodies and complained as much. She was even more aggravating when she was still being ignored.

"Raziel, I don't want you to go."

He sighed. "I don't want to, either, but Lara, you know I don't belong to this planet." He touched her cheek. "I love you."

She let out her breath and leaned her forehead against his. "I love you, too."

"And as much as I don't want to—"

"Then don't—"

"Raziel?" a voice inquired from the doorway. Both looked up to see Vorador standing there, watching the two.

"It's time to go."

Raziel nodded once, let go of Lara, then spent about five minutes working to detach Rose from his shirt. She didn't understand what was going on, but she did realize that Raziel was going to be leaving and she didn't want him to. He ended up pulling off the shirt and moving back before she could latch onto him again. Lara carried her and gave her to Hillary so she could go with Vorador and Raziel back to the Pillars.

The trip was made in utter silence, Lara and Raziel both steeling themselves in their paths, Vorador just looking between the two amusedly. After all, it wasn't him. Why shouldn't he be amused?

The Pillars and then the building surrounding them rose in a wall of white toward them. It seemed in the eternity of a blink of an eye they were in front of them and sliding out of the car. Jials met them at the doorway and walked next to Lara through the rooms to the outside. The portal flickered in its life as always. Vorador took one of Lara's hands, kissed the top, and bowed to her, that same sardonic air there as always.

"A pleasure meeting you, Lady Croft, and should you ever decide to change your mind about staying human, I am quite willing to make one such as yourself into a vampire."

"Thank you, Vorador, but I don't believe I'll be taking you up on that offer."

"Pity." He shrugged, but smile, and stepped back into the portal. Lara turned to Raziel. The stared at each other for a time.

"It was good to see you again," Raziel stated in a carefully neutral tone.

"The feeling is mutual." Then she paused and chuckled slightly. "Haven't we already danced to this tune?"

Raziel gave her a confused expression.

"This is about what we said the last time we said good-bye."

He considered it. "That it is." He touched her cheek again. "I will see you again, you know."

"I know. Just go now before I hold onto you and refuse to let go."

Raziel smirked slightly, turned, and walked toward the portal. Without hesitation, he stepped into it, leaving the portal rippled slightly in his wake. Lara watched until the last ripple had vanished, then turned to walk away.

"Uh, Lara?" Jials' voice stopped her. "Someone's coming through the portal."

Lara turned back and watched as a silhouette formed behind the portal, then broke through to reveal none other than Raziel, striding back toward where she stood. Her eyebrows knit together in confusion as he stopped in front of her.

"Now you know how I felt when you left me five years ago," he breathed gently to her. Then, in front of all eyes, kneeled before her and held a ring out, asking, "will you marry me?"

Lara's eyes widened for a moment before a genuinely pleased smile broke out across her face. Very primly, she took the ring and slid it on her finger, then looked him in the eye and responded, "Yes." He stood quickly and pulled her into his embrace, fastening his lips tightly to her. After a few moments when he had broken the lock, she became aware of the fact that the people standing around were applauding. Jials came over to them and patted Lara on the shoulder in a jovial manner.

"I never thought I'd see the day the Tomb Raider cried," he laughed, shaking his head slightly from side to side at seeing the tears creeping down Lara's face.

"I'm not crying," she replied in what was supposed to be her famous threatening voice, but came out more as a mock-growl.

"Yes you are," Jials responded. "See, right there—"

Abruptly, a pistol was jammed under his nose. His eyes widened and he quickly walked away saying, "Okay, no you were not crying. The Tomb Raider doesn't cry. Gotcha."

She turned her attention back to Raziel and he kissed her.

"So, when do you think we should have it?"

Lara paused, wondering for a moment if the actual season meant anything to her. She decided, in reality, it really didn't, so she based it off another date, instead.

"One month after Rose's birthday. That should give us enough time to work out the details, don't you think?"

He nodded. "I think so, yes."

"Wonderful. Now, who are we going to invite, and what are we going to serve for dinner? I already can tell quite a few of the guests are going to be drinking only, and it's going to be a beverage that will be a bit hard to come by."

"True. Hm . . ."

Okay, okay, short chapter, but that's because I'm gearing up for a LONG epilogue. Expect it to come in two parts. Now you will all have to WAIT for eternity to see what happens! Mwahahahahahhahahaaa!!!

Or, rather, until I update next, which shouldn't be too long from now.

In the meantime, check out some of my poems on fictionpress, would you? Pwease?


	20. Last page of Reviews

All righty, reviews. And I must admit, I lied. The epilogue is only one chapter, but it's VERY VERY VERY VERY long—at least, compared to the rest of my chapters, so that should make you all happy. As usual, Rose and Jials belong to me, and I'm glad you're finding Rose amusing. She's supposed to be. Couldn't have done this all without my muse Zargreus.

Um, and you Kain fans will be happy with the next chapter as well.

Oh, by the way, if any of you know of an Eidos forum or something where I can post this, I would love to try and get this story up there. Judging from the reviews, I'm kinda wondering if I could somehow slowly ascend the ladder and eventually get the people up there to look at it. Hey, I can dream, can't I? And think about what kind of game this would make. A two-player Tomb Raider/Soul Reaver game? It'd be kick-ass!

Okay, let's get down and dirty here …

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♦♦♦♦-thank you, and I did. *impish grin*

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Coldfang- no, tongue does not, and I'm glad you're liking it.

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Kain-is-my-plushie- thank you, and I'm glad you're really liking the story. I'm happy so many people are finding this entertaining.

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Tanaquil- I'm glad you liked it, and I'm glad you gave the story a chance. It seems most people thought it was a hard pairing to manage, but I suppose I might have had such an easy time with it because the pair just clicked in my mind right away.

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Concept of a demon- Mols? Strange, didn't do it intentionally. Oh, and about that comment about Janos, guess what? . . . . .

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Deinonarra-It ate your review? That's not good. And hey, if Ariel's your type of woman, have fun. Everyone has their own tastes. *shrug*

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Bloodthirsty- I love your predictions! They're hilarious! I wish I could use all of them, but some are just too funny or don't fit for what I have plotted. Sad, really, but I shall cherish them forever. And I am very glad you are liking this story. I am very glad to have such a vocal reviewer.

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VladimirsAngel- Of course I'm reading "Body-Swap." It's wonderful! And don't worry about Nigel. You'll like what more happens to him.

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SVP- I have but one thing to say to you: BRING VORADOR BACK!!! I need him for one more chapter, then you can have him until the fourth story. OOOPPSS!! Did I say fourth story? Um, heheheh… you didn't see anything. But bring Vorador back. And stop singing. I don't know that song, and if I can't sing along with it, it's no fun.

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TaleSpinner and **Syvia**- thank you, I'm glad you're liking it. And it did seem fitting for Vorador to react to her in such a manner, didn't it?

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Lilith and **J.M.S.**- thank you and wait till you see what happens to Rose in the next chapter. Or, rather, what she does.

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Coldfang- By the way, what does K.U.T.G.W. mean?

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Kittie- thank you, and I'm glad that it seemed like a very Voradorie thing to do. And here's the final chapter so you can see what's going to happen.

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Concept of a demon- Nigel is Nigel, but he was pissed because he felt Raziel was stealing Rose away from him. That was one thing he couldn't stand. And Nigel's got quite a temper problem.

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Syvia and **VladimirsAngel**- glad you liked the violence against Nigel. Why Rose has a grenade, we're not going to ask, though.

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ElementWalker- here it is.

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Lunatic Pandora- Calm down, you'll see Kain. Now put the staff down ….

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Coldfang- I did did did did did did did did did, etc.

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Colleen- Nah, I didn't do Rose's birthday. Nothing of particular importance happened that day, so I just skipped to the wedding. That's where the action is.

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Deionarra- Heh. That's all I'm going to say on that topic. Maybe they will.

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SVP- Aw, calm down. You know with this many reviewers I can't stop writing these stories now.

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VladimirsAngel- Glad you like Raziel and Rose together. I tried to write them as cute and endearing together as I could manage. And the line you refer to was just what Lara would do. *shrug* I try to keep them in character. And she is a lucky woman, isn't she?

On we go to the epilogue . . .


	21. Epilogue: The Wedding

People rushed around, setting everything up. Both Raziel and Lara had decided vehemently against a church wedding, so they decided to have it outside the mansion in the garden. Lara had actually allowed herself to be put into a dress, though it was smooth, rather short, and to the point. Raziel had been dressed up in a tuxedo. He stood next to her and stretched his arms back cautiously.

"I feel like if I move, I'm going to rip this."

"Oh, don't complain," Lara sighed. "I don't particularly like being in a dress either, but my . . . relatives," she paused to shiver, "Wouldn't have had it any other way. Aunt Ethel almost had a heart attack when I refused to wear white."

Raziel shivered at the mention of the dreaded aunt's name, having met the overly gregarious woman, and then glanced Lara up and down. "She seems to have gotten you into white."

"I gave up the color to get rid of anything puffy, fluffy, or longer than my gun past my knees. I'd rather wear white, thank you."

He carefully embraced her and kissed her gently, saying, "You look very beautiful."

She smiled up at him. "And you look very handsome."

The door opened and Jials came in.

"Hey, hey, hey," he protested. "Couples to be wed are not supposed to see each other before the actual ceremony." He grabbed Raziel and dragged him out of the room.

Near the gate of the mansion, a very pissed-off Nigel kneeled. He had a rifle strung over his shoulder, but he still wasn't sure what he was going to do with it. He glowered toward the celebration. Suddenly, something slammed into his head, making him loose his grasp on reality for a long moment. He groaned and blinked into consciousness a time later to see the rifle was literally wrapped around his body and carved into the stone were the words, 'Don't even think about it.'

"Look, Kain's here," Lara murmured into Raziel's ear. Jials glared moodily nearby, watching Raziel with his arm around Lara's waist. Of course they hadn't listened to him.

Hillary suddenly appeared beside them. "Lady Croft, Lord Raziel, it is time to begin."

Raziel kissed Lara again, then walked away after Hillary.

Kain sighed deeply as he walked down to the chairs, brushing rock dust off his claws from carving in the mansion's gateway wall. He had better things to do on Nosgoth than attend a wedding on Earth, but it was Raziel's. He grabbed a chair in front of the last row and flipped to so the side of it faced him. He then sat down in on of the chairs in the last row and put his feet up on the chair before him he had turned for this specific purpose. Around him, humans turned and glared at him. He was tempted to scare them into submissiveness, but decided it would interrupt the ceremony, so he staunchly ignored them.

Suddenly, from up front, a little girl of five climbed out of her chair, raced down the aisle to where he sat, and promptly climbed into his lap. Kain narrowed his eyes as he looked down at her. She had dark hair, and short of slightly off-colored eyes, looked and smelled human. So, this human whelp would dare to even approach him? Humans on Nosgoth knew far better than that.

"Ball!" She held up a little round object to him. One of Kain's eye ridges rose in disgust, which quickly lowered to annoyance as she threw the ball lightly against his face. It was a small ping-pong ball and hurt nothing more than his pride. He pondered what to do with the little upstart.

'Kill her?' He paused. 'No, too many people around. Throw her as far away from my person as possible . . . No, same problem.'

So he decided to do precisely what he did best; he ignored her. The little girl, seeing the resistance and taking it as a challenge, began throwing the ball at his face again. Eventually, it bounced away. She made a sad noise, climbed off his lap, and ran after it. After a moment, she came back, climbed into his lap again, and threw her new ball at him. This one happened to be a tennis ball. Kain focused intently on the proceedings, shutting her out so strongly that he didn't notice that ball roll away, or her go get another ball.

She came back with a baseball. The same process repeated again and again, continuing with a softball, a large rubber ball, a basketball, and a soccer ball. Still Kain ignored her. But then she came back with a bowling ball. She pulled back, then threw it at his face where it made a resounding CLANG!

"AH!" Kain raised a claw to his face where the ball had hit it and looked down to see she was pulling back to throw a medicine ball at him. He hastily caught it and looked down at her in interest and a touch of confusion. He tossed the ball back to her and watched as she caught it. She smiled widely at having his attention and threw it back. He sent it back to her. Shortly, the two were locked in a high-speed throwing game. Finally, he decided he'd had enough and held a hand up to indicate for her to stop. The girl, being only five years old, didn't understand the gesture and threw it again, where it connected with his face. He shook his head and growled under his breath, no longer caring there were other humans here to watch him kill her as his talons moved toward her in anger.

At the same moment, the wedding had finally ended and as Lara and Raziel walked by, Lara leaned down and picked up the little girl.

"Come along, Rose."

Kain sat a long moment, blinking, then stared after where Lara, Raziel and this . . . 'Rose' had left.

The wedding was over and everyone was settling down to eat and talk. Good luck and wedding presents were being given to the newly weds and they had finally pulled away from it all to watch their guests. Jials stood watching them and smiled.

"They make quite a good couple," he said to no one in particular.

"That they do," a voice answered him. He jumped in surprise, then turned to see a tall, yellow-green skinned being with yellow eyes and long white hair. Jials took in the three clawed hands and cloven feet and realized he was a Nosgothian vampire of some kind.

"I don't believe I've met you," Jials stated.

"I'm sure you haven't," he responded. "I'm rather hard to forget." He paused, glanced around, and grinned exposing his fangs. "You know, I do believe I'm relatively hungry."

Jials eyed him worriedly, then sidled away a step. The vampire rubbed his chin as he mused aloud, "Perhaps a scholar of some kind or another would do nicely . . ."

Lara and Raziel were walking toward the two, and Jials' beat a hasty retreat to hide behind Lara saying, "You handle him. He scares me."

She glanced back at him, remarking, "Whatever happened to men being strong and brave?"

"Whatever happened to women being sweet and meek?" he retorted.

"Mummy?" a voice asked near Lara's feet. Lara leaned down and picked up Rose, balancing Rose on her hip and walked to Kain.

"Stop scaring the occultist," she reprimanded him. Kain smirked slightly and Jials quickly moved away.

"But it's so much fun."

"Oh, Lara!" Lara winced at the voice, knowing immediately who it was. Those voices belonged to her "relatives," one Aunt Ethel and Uncle Edmund. She found them utterly revolting; Aunt Ethel was the epitome of children's fear of an aunt who pinches cheeks constantly. Uncle Edmund wasn't much better. Rose knew who they were as well, and she quickly hid her face in Lara's arm. When her relatives had gotten to them, Lara gently excused herself saying she had to feed Rose. As she gratefully walked away, she realized Raziel hadn't even been there that long once he heard them coming. The powerful and immortal Soul Reaver, who'd faced even the fiercest of demons was as happy to avoid her relatives as Lara was.

"Oh!" Aunt Ethel turned her eyes to Kain, who still stood nearby, looking at them blankly. "And you might be?"

"Kain."

"Ah, Mr. . . Kain. And may we inquire as to what your relation to the newly weds is?"

Kain was torn between being disgusted and amused by the mortals, so he decided to give them an answer they'd be comfortable with.

"I am Raziel's . . . father." It wasn't particularly true in vampire terms, but these humans would be happy with the answer.

"Oh, are you? You must be very proud to be a grandfather."

Kain blinked at them a moment, slightly confused.

"Didn't you know?" Uncle Edmund asked. "Rose is Raziel's and Lara's daughter."

"Ah, is that what you were referring to." Inwardly, Kain's eye twitched. He realized he should have come to the conclusion, but Lara did seem like the type to sleep with a male who could produce such a child, and he had never for a moment expected Lara to become pregnant after sleeping with Raziel. It shouldn't have happened, and definitely shouldn't have been possible.

"Mr. Kain, what is it that you do?"

He crossed his arms over his chest and answered smoothly, "I rule over hundreds of humans and vampires with an iron fist and wage war against an ancient race of demons."

Aunt Ethel and Uncle Edmund both laughed, obviously enjoying what they thought was a joke. Kain laughed along with them, all the while thinking, 'You have no idea.'

"No, no, no, but really, what do you do?"

"I kill people with impunity."

Aunt Ethel and Uncle Edmund started to laugh, then stopped, seeing Kain watching them with a slight smirk, a malicious glint in his eyes, and a dead serious expression. Lara, who had been watching this whole affair, decided it was time to intervene. She went to speak to Kain, allowing the two to escape. After all, Lara would rather deal with Kain over the two any day. Aunt Ethel and Uncle Edmund, safely away from Lara's crazy father-in-law, managed to finally corner the groom.

"Well, Raziel?" Uncle Edmund inquired. "Now that you're married to Lara, what do you plan on doing in the future."

Raziel winced, glancing around for an escape route, but answered, "I plan on helping Lara on her exploits."

"Ah." The two exchanged a worried look. They both frowned on Lara's little trips that she took. Aunt Ethel went to ask him another a question, but the ringing of a fork being tapped on a glass drew their attention to Jials standing at the head table.

"I believe it's about time for the newly weds to have their first dance."

Raziel gratefully moved out into the center of the room and extended his arm toward Lara. She walked to him and took his arm. He turned her into his embrace as the music started up, and both began to step in time to each other, just allowing themselves to look in the other's eyes.

"I love you," he murmured quietly to her.

"I love you, too," she responded. He leaned down and kissed her gently.

Kain stood to the side slightly away from the mortals, but watched quietly. Suddenly, his head jerked up and his eyes narrowed. Something wasn't right . . . There was some form a danger nearby . . .

What he didn't see was a small little girl slowly sneaking up behind him. She suddenly lunged forward and glomped onto his leg, squeezing it in a tight hug.

"AGH!" He glared down in surprise and anger at the little parasite that had attached itself to his leg. He winced in pain as she hugged tighter, and he quickly realized she would have broken a normal human's leg long ago.

"Get off!" he roared down at her. Rose just hung on. Everyone had stopped and was watching Kain trying to pry the little girl off his leg. Even Lara and Raziel had taken an interest. They had been afraid for Rose's sake for about thirty seconds until they realized that with all of Kain's stamping to get her off, Rose was having fun.

After about five minutes, Kain finally shot off in the dark, pointing to a corner, saying, "Look! A ball!"

"OOO!" Rose immediately detached herself from his leg and raced to where he pointed, looking around. "Where? Wherewherewherewhere?"

Kain gratefully massaged feeling back into his leg and hastily pulled back into the shadows before Rose could find him again.

The rest of the dancing came and went, and finally people started saying good-bye and leaving. Lara was happy to see her relatives go, but she kept her face straight as she wished them good-bye. Finally, it came down to a few people left, including Jials and Kain. Kain walked to the two.

"I wasn't able to give you two your gift before because of all the normal mortals around, but now I am free to."

He handed them a three-foot by two-foot black box. Raziel held it, allowing Lara to open in. Inside on cloth that resembled silk sat a large stained glass image of Raziel and Lara dressed in a Nosgothic style of dress, staring into each other's eyes, obviously deeply in love. Next to it was a card with, "Best wishes." Underneath it was an elegant K and beside it a J.

"I'd say I made it, but that would be a lie," Kain grinned.

"Who did?" Raziel asked.

"I did," a heavily accented voice stated. Raziel looked up in shock as a tall male walked around the corner toward them. Lara's eyes widened at the sight of him. He was well built and wore a long white robe with black and gold trim over black pants. His skin was a light blue, and hair black, but what drew her attention most were the pair of gigantic black wings coming off his back.

"Janos . . ." Raziel breathed. Janos smiled gently down at his successor as Guardian of the Reaver. Vorador walked out after Janos and stood next to him.

"Killing Moebius has had strange repercussions on Nosgoth, as well, you know."

"Lara," Kain told her, "if you want to meet someone who more truly fits the aspect of Raziel's father, this is he."

Janos turned his yellow eyes to here. "Ah, you must be the famous Lara Croft."

"And you must be Janos Audron."

Janos took her hand and kissed it. "That I am, my Lady."

Lara found herself staring in wonder at the ancient vampire. He seemed so at contrast to all the other vampires she had met so far. She found that he even reminded her of her father with his mentor-like, warm manner. She could see instantly why people would immediately trust him.

"You realize as honored as I am to have you here, the majority of the people still here are human, and I don't know how'd they'd react to a blue-skinned, winged individual in their midst."

Janos nodded his understanding as Kain calmly said, "You needn't worry. We planned for that problem already. Janos has a sort of form-changing spell about his person."

Lara blinked at him. "You still seem very vampiric to me."

"That's because you are a Guardian. You are no longer truly mortal. Any of these normal humans, however will see me as merely a nameless human in their midst."

As if to affirm his statement, Jials walked over, nodding to Lara as he told her, "I think I'll be heading back now." He glanced nervously at Vorador and moved a step away from him. "So, I will say my adieus now. Good-bye, Lara, Raziel, Scary One," he added, looking at Kain. He nodded to Janos and walked away. Lara blinked, knowing that Jials must not have seen anything, as he would have been all over Janos asking questions. Perhaps magic did have its uses . . .

"And," Kain began, "As heartwarming as— AH!" His head abruptly craned back at an awkward angel. The vampires, Soul Reaver, and Tomb Raider blinked at him strangely a moment before moving around him to see what was happening. Hanging onto his hair was Rose, giggling. Vorador and Janos started chuckling.

"Oh yes, enjoy this. It wouldn't be so amusing if it was happening to you," Kain growled.

Vorador ran a claw over his bald head. "No worries here."

Janos indicated his short hair. "She'd be hard-pressed."

As if provoking fate, Rose let go of Kain's hair, stared at Janos a minute, than stated, "Pretty wings!" She immediately ran toward him while Vorador laughed openly. Janos began turning in a slow circle while Rose chased one of his wing tips. After a moment, he leaned down and picked her up. She moved in his grasp so she could pet his wings, saying, "Pretty wings."

"You're quite lucky," Lara stated. "At least she isn't pulling out your feathers."

"She doesn't want to hurt me," he responded. Rose promptly leaned over and plucked out one of his feathers.

"Ouch."

Lara shook her head. "That's one thing you have to understand about Rose." Janos handed Rose to Lara as she continued, "For all her five years, she sometimes acts very much like a malevolent vampire. She has a streak for the sadistic. She just manages to hide it being a very manipulative exterior."

Rose snuggled against Lara and, still petting the feather she held, kissed her cheek. Lara's eye twitched as she fought to suppress matronly urges to cuddle over the child. She satisfied herself with holding Rose close. She wouldn't act like a cooing mother in front of all these men.

"We really should be going, sire," Vorador commented from next to him. Janos nodded once in consideration.

"I suppose you are correct. Kain? Will you be joining us?"

"Of course."

"You'd better say good-bye to Grandfather Kain," Lara told Rose. Kain snorted.

"I am hardly her grandfather. If someone needs to be her grandfather, I appoint Janos to the position."

"Yes," Raziel added. "Kain's more like the uncle no one ever speaks of."

"Fine then," Lara stated in a way to end all argument. "Uncle Kain it is."

"Uncle Kain!" Rose held her arms out for a good-bye hug. Kain's eyes narrowed in contempt and he turned to walk away. Her sniffling stopped him and he turned to see little tears sneaking out of her eyes. He sighed in defeat, walked over to her, and gave her a hug. She immediately brightened up. Kain walked away shaking his head saying, "She definitely has a vampire's manipulation in there somewhere."

Raziel and Lara watched Janos, Vorador, and Kain teleport back to the Pillars. Rose waved them good-bye, appearing not in the least effected by the fact they had just disappeared.

Lara sighed happily from where she lay against Raziel's chest. It was about a week after the wedding and the two lay together entangled in the sheets and each other's arms. She sat up and looked down at Raziel.

"You know, we still need to take our honeymoon."

"And where would we go?" he asked lazily, not unhappy with the idea, but merely curious.

"How about around the world just moving from one place to another until we find somewhere we'd like to stay for a while?"

His eyes closed as he thought about it. After a moment, he nodded. "That would be fun, yes. But that leaves us with the problem of who's going to watch Rose while we're gone? Certainly not a normal baby-sitter."

"I have that all figured out."

Kain sat down on the couch across from them.

"Well, your letter said it was urgent. What is it that you need so badly?"

"We haven't yet gotten an opportunity to take our honeymoon and get away from England yet," Lara began.

"Yes, so?"

"We don't want to take Rose with us, so we need for someone to baby-sit her."

Kain's eyes narrowed as he realized where this was going. He stood, shaking his head firmly.

"No." He turned and started walking toward the door. Lara picked up Rose.

"Sorry, Rose, but it seems Uncle Kain doesn't want to stay here. He's going to leave now."

"No Uncle Kain?" Rose looked after Kain and when she saw he was indeed leaving, she started crying. Kain heard the sound and clenched his talons into a fist, but kept moving. He got to the door, began to walk out of it, and found his feet turning back and taking him to Rose. He picked her up out of Lara's arms and cuddled over her, glaring at Raziel and Lara who were smiling.

"I truly hate you, you realize."

"We know."

An hour later, Raziel and Lara had left and Rose had been put to bed to sleep. Kain sat down in a chair, closed his eyes, and rubbed his temples. How had he let them talk him into doing this? Ah yes, they had cheated. Why did a single little girl crying bother him in the slightest? He had slaughtered thousands without a second thought, but this girl brought him to his knees with her crying. Why?

'Oh well,' he sighed mentally to himself. 'At least children sleep most of the time. I should get at least some piece and quiet.'

Then, from behind him, he heard, "Ball!"

End~


End file.
